


In the Shadows

by Justgenderless



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, I'm Bad At Tagging, LAMP Sander Sides, Lamp - Freeform, M/M, Multi, Vigilante Alternate Universe, gay superheros, no beta we die like men, writing as i go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:49:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 25,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26973937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justgenderless/pseuds/Justgenderless
Summary: Super heros are something all aspire to be, but what about those who prefer to sit in the shadows? What about the vigilantes?In a world where a select few have powers, and those few hide thinking they are the only ones, A group of four people seem to be constantly running in to each other, in costume and out. Is it fate, or a mere coincidence?~Crossposted from my Wattpad~Warning:They do be physically(and possibly verbally) fighting, and Janus and Remus are stinky bastard mens who form a big bad group of big bad villains (violence and kinda unsympathetic Janus/Remus)
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Comments: 6
Kudos: 35





	1. The First Encounters

**Author's Note:**

> TW:TW:Mentions of homophobia/racism
> 
> The bois(in this chapter) powers:
> 
> Virgil:Creation and manipulation of silk
> 
> Patton:Can control plants/animals
> 
> Logan:Telepathy/mind control
> 
> Roman:Can create bursts of sound
> 
> Note:Sometimes I mess up on Patton's pronouns, please let me know if I ever do and publish without noticing!

Hidden bellow the surface of normal society is a deep rooted fear. Fear of things that are different than the norm. And humans, being simple minded creatures with one goal, survival, destroy anything it fears. This is shown all throughout human history. From people who despise those who love a gender same as their own, to those who seek to destroy and conquer those born with a different tone of skin. 

But when that different thing starts to gain power, then the fear grows. And so dose the anger. Morals start to disappear and fad away, any sense of who they were before is lost, because of that fear. So what happens, when the difference, that feared and hated thing, is power itself?

at most 5% of the population is born with a special ability. Some go through life without knowing they ever have one. Some discover and chose to hide it away, never using it at all. Some discover and do use it, whether that use is good, or evil. Though few fall into the latter.

The four that we shall focus on though, do. Virgil Storm, Logan Sanders, Patton Pie and Roman James. These four live very different, but similar lives.

The first to meet, or interact were Logan and Virgil, on September 11th. Virgil works at a music store, the last one in town and Logan went there to look at their record collection, him being a collector of old things. Piper, Virgil's co-worker and current manager was in the back, putting boxes away so it was up to the anxious emo to deal with this costumer.

"Greetings, do you sell records?" Logan asked, approaching the desk. He seemed surprised by Virgil's very alt appearance. Bright purple hair, the classic eyeshadow and black nails, but what else could he have been expecting from a music store that mostly sold emo shit.

Virgil nodded. "They're over there," He pointed in the direction of the clearance rack and bin. "Just past the clearance section."

"Thank you." Logan responded, walking away before Virgil could do the typical 'let me know if you need anything else' thing.

Whatever, it was so annoying to say, and Virgil wasn't in a people mood. Virgil was never in a people mood. He leaned onto the counter, scrolling through his Tumblr feed half-absently. The store was empty other than Logan, since it was Monday afternoon, and all the usual were at school or work.

After a few minutes Logan returned to the counter, holding a Beatles record. Piper had come out of the back to help Virgil out, and grinned at the sight.

"Ooooh, a fellow man of culture I see!" She said, shifting from foot to foot with excitement. Piper was a HUGE Beatles fan. Like a massive one.

Logan shrugged and placed the record on the counter. "I supposed. i find the classics much more appealing than current music."

Virgil scanned the record as Piper and Logan chatted. Piper would make a reference to a meme or something, and Logan would just appear confused beyond belief and nod slowly as if making a not to himself.

Once he sensed a break in the conversation Virgil spoke up, "That'll be 25$... sir." He found himself sneering the last word, alarm bells going off in his head. Something about Logan just seemed... off?

Logan nodded and handed over his credit card, and when their fingers brushed both felt a shiver go down their side, and if anyone had been paying attention, they would've seen small sparks flying between the two's hands. The transaction was quickly finished, both being very careful to not touch again.

The next to meet were Patton and Roman. On October 1st.

Roman had just finished putting on a, in his opinion, breathtaking performance. The audience, had been less please. Most looked very bored and never reacted when they were supposed to. In fact most seemed to be there for the meme, since the performance was of Shrek the Musical. Roman couldn't help he was playing the green king of memes!

The actor had been trying to rid his face of the green body paint when he heard voices. He knew Michal, the actor who had played Donkey said he planed to bring his cousin back stage, so he wasn't too worried. Still, Roman tried to speed up the makeup removal, a prince such as himself had to slay.

"Woah!" Roman heard who he guessed was the cousin say. "It's so BIG!"

Michal laughed. "Sure is, it has to be for everything to work after all." There was pride in his voice since he had scored such a big role.

Unlike Roman, who had a few main roles before in somewhat big shows, Donkey was Michal's first breakthrough, and was a huge deal to him.

Roman heard footsteps just as he had got the last of the green off his face. "Heya kiddo!" He turned, finding a kinda short person standing next to him.

This person was very clearly Michal's cousin, though instead Michal's brown hair Patton's was more of an orangey blonde.

"Roman, meet my cousin, Patton." Michal said, resting a hand on Patton's shoulder. Michal was 30, while Patton looked more like they was around 25, though Roman couldn't be exactly sure.

"Greetings Patton." Roman said, doing a small bow. Patton giggled which caused Roman to smirk. Making people happy was his main goal in life, so any time he did improve someone's day he felt great.

"You did a great job! I almost cried a few times." Patton grinned, shifting their weight from their toes to his heels in a very child like way.

Michal took a step back. "I gotta go find my parents, you two mind staying here?" he asked, looking over his shoulder.

Patton nodded and smiled at Roman, who nodded as well. "Of course my dear Michal! We shan't move an inch."

The two watched Michal leave, then Roman turned to face Patton. "How bout I show you around my good sir?"

Patton giggled. "Sir? I don't think that's the right label for me."

"Oh, my apologies, is there a better one?" Roman said quickly, internally face palming for just assuming that.

"Just Patton works!" Patton answered. "And you don't need to worry about it! That kind of thing happens!"

Roman looked around. "Well, how about that tour now, Patton?" He looked back at Patton with a smirk.

"Sure!" Patton said, clapping their hands. Roman offered a hand, and as Patton reached for it the two felt a sudden shiver snap through them, and Roman could've sworn he saw sparks fly between the two's hands.

Let's just say for the rest of the meeting the two avoided touching each other.

Very slowly they all ran into each other. Roman and Virgil at a con, and got into a very heated debate about the best Disney villain, that turned into debating if Jack Skeleton was a villain or not. They didn't make contact, but when the passed each other later in the day, tiny sparks flew between them, luckily no one noticed in the large crowd.

Logan and Patton met at the library where Logan worked. Patton had come and asked for help finding a book, and Logan had been the only one around. When Logan handed Patton the book their hands touched, and much like before the shiver and sparks returned. Patton left in a hurry, and Logan avoided touching people for the rest of that day.

And finally Roman and Logan met in costume. There had been a mugging and Roman, aka Princey had arrived first, trying desperately to take down the muggers. His power of creating bursts of sound was not very useful in tight spaces, or in groups. Then, Logan, aka L.O.S.T arrived. Quickly getting the muggers to just leave and wiped their memories.

Princey glared at L.O.S.T, aggravated that this loser thought he had to step in. "I could have handled that you know." He grumbled, adjusting the mask around his eyes.

L.O.S.T nodded. "I'm sure. I just wanted to make sure it was finished quickly. Not to mention you attract attention that is unwanted for what we do."

The public was semi-aware of the heros, or vigilantes among them, but they didn't know about the powers. In fact, very few of the vigilantes themselves knew that the others had powers. Normal people often tried to figure out the strange events, but never were fully believed.

Princey was about to retort when the L.O.S.T started to exit the alleyway, brushing by the other vigilante. As the two touched the somewhat familiar shiver feeling appeared and tiny sparks flew between the two. They made eye contact for a few seconds before L.O.S.T quickly darted away, wheels turning in his head.


	2. Two Sides of Town

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:Implied shitty parents, pretty extreme poverty, wanting to die joke, kinda denial/repression

The town the four lived in was very clearly split down the middle, one side being wealthy, and the other not so much. Virgil had lived on the not so much side for years, he hadn't always, but he avoided thinking about when he did.

The apartment Virgil lived in was known for being pretty run down. The landlord was greedy and an ass, the wallpaper was peeling in every room, every apartment was basically just one room, and the electricity was very rarely working. The people living there ranged from the sweetest old lady that had taken Virgil in the minute she saw him, to a grumpy, foul-smelling middle aged dude who could only lived there because he was related to the landlord. Still, a house was a house.

It was rare a new person would move in, since most people avoided it like the plague. When someone did move it, it became almost like a party. Kevin, the previous mentioned grumpy middle aged man, was told to leave for the day or just stay in his room, Ginger, the nice old lady baked some sweet, and everyone who was decent did their best to make it a nice welcome.

So when Virgil found out that someone new was moving in, he was pretty happy. Most times a potluck was organized, which meant not having to worry about food that day/week. He helped out where he could, since he was shit at baking and cooking.

Around 12:00 everyone who wanted to, and who Ginger allowed to, went up to the roof, waiting for this new person to arrive. After only about 10 the door that led to the roof opened, Ginger walked onto the roof, and was followed by a shortish person, who looked very happy to be there.

The person had the face and body of a born male person, but dressed themselves in a very feminine way, skirt, hair clips, that kind of thing. Virgil found himself smiling a bit, his gaydar sounding off pretty loudly.

"Everyone," Ginger said, resting a hand on Patton's shoulder. Patton was only a bit taller than her, so it wasn't too hard. Normally someone would have to squat a bit for Ginger to do that. "This is Patton, you better respect them or I'll beat some sense into you."

Virgil chuckled a bit, seeing that Ginger had taken someone else under her wing. After some shouts(or mumbles from those who Ginger would probably have to 'beat some sense into) of greeting normal conversation started up again. Virgil pulled out his phone, intending to wait for everyone else to start eating before he did.

"Virgil, there you are!" Ginger said, making Virgil look up. "Pat's around your age, thought it be good for you two to meet." She winked, a smirk crossing her face.

Virgil rolled his eyes, smiling at the old lady's antics. "If you're trying to set me up again, it's not going to work." He tucked his phone into his hoodies pocket.

Patton giggled from behind Ginger. "I'll try not to take that as an insult."

Virgil flushed, having not realized that Patton was there. "Shit! Sorry I didn't see you there!" He said quickly.

"Langue child!" Ginger scolded, Patton had seemed to be about to say the same thing though. Ginger's grip of her cane tightened, then released. If it had been someone else she would've bonked them with it, but Virgil was the exception. 

"Right, sorry Ging," Virgil said with a small laugh. "I'll be more careful."

Ginger nodded approvingly. " Now, I'll leave you two to chat." She smirked and toddled off, going to lecture a different group.

Patton smiled at Virgil. "Ginger is an interesting person isn't she?" They said, looking back at the old lady.

Virgil scoffed and nodded. "Yep, she's kinda like the mom of the apartment." He watched as Ginger bonked someone a tad older than Virgil, clearly lecturing them about something.

Patton laughed. "I can see that." They said, playing with the hoodie around their shoulders. Virgil couldn't help but smile, his normal trust issues with new people missing. This person was just so.. innocent.

Virgil crossed his arms, leaning on the edge of the roof. The two were just a bit away from the left corner of rooftop, far enough away form other people they wouldn't be completely heard. "Careful kiddo," Patton said, "Wouldn't want to fall off!"

"Right," Virgil replied, biting back a comment about wanting to die. Patton seemed like the type to not really like that kind of joke. So instead he opted for, "Kiddo, aren't we like, the same age?"

Patton shrugged cheerfully. "Well I've got a few years on you! And even if I didn't, that's what I call everybody!"

Virgil raised an eyebrow. "K then... Pop Star?" He was cautious when speaking, testing how far he could go with Patton. By the way the enby's eyes lit up and his already big grin grew, pretty far.

Now, across town, Logan was working on a paper for class. He had been living in the richer part of town for a while, after obtaining a very good job. It provided him with a chance to return to collage to gain a PhD in social science. He gladly took this, and had been working hard ever since.

However he couldn't afford a apartment alone, and unfortunately, his roommate was officially moving in today.

Roman had been moving from apartment to apartment for a month now. Every place just didn't fit properly. This was like his fifth place. He had already moved all his stuff in earlier, and today was the day he officially started staying there.

So at exactly 12:15 Roman busted open the door, walking in while grinning. He looked around, from the kitchen to the living room to the two doors down the hall. It was pretty small for an apartment on this side of the town. it got a bad rep for this, but that was really the own flaw.

Someone who looked like they belonged in a library forever opened on of the doors, glaring at Roman. "Be more careful, if you aren't careful you'll break the door."

"Apologies...." Roman started, expecting the person to continue with their name. His roommate was a guy! Not even that but a decently hot guy! Not as hot as Roman, but up there! Oh he could already see the romance that could insue!

However, before Roman's romantic thought train could start, this roommate bastard just nodded and closed his door! Roman pouted, angered at this rejection. He quickly brightened himself up. He could take a challenge!

Roman walked over to the door, knocking on it. "Excuse me my dear roommate, but I am hoping to acquire your name?"

The door was opened again. "Logan." His roommate, or Logan, answered. "Is there anything else you need?"

Logan stood in a way Roman couldn't see inside his room. The prince themed hero frowned. "Well... No?"

"Good. Now, later in the evening I believe it would be beneficial to discuss boundaries and basic rules. However, for now I expect you to stay out of my room, and I will do the same for you."

Roman took half a step back as the door was closed again, erasing his romantic daydreams for good. He sighed and started to walk back to his room. Though as soon as his own door was closed he made himself brighten up. He was Princey! The best hero around, and heroes didn't feel sad or disappointed! No matter what the world threw at him, he could take it!

No matter what.


	3. Warnings and Friendship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:Janus and Remus, forth wall break, death/threatening, anxiety attack/mental breakdown, some caps, it's kinda short, mostly just wanted to get the dark dorks in here.
> 
> New bois powers:
> 
> Janus:Shape-shifting(and being a bastard)
> 
> Remus:Can control blood(and being a gremlin)
> 
> since transfering is wack this chapter is probably better to read over on wattpad. It'll be a bit confusing here so I can explain if needed! (basically jan and remus speak out of text. I use italic/bold over on wattpad but that's not working here-

Hey you there, yeah, person reading this. Bet you thought you weren't going to hear from us huh? Fool.

Question, do you know what every good superhero story needs? What role we may be here to play? Your answer should be a villain. 

This story may focus on those four so called heroes, but we're here, don't you worry. A little warning for you dear reader, the clock is ticking. It's only a matter of time until whatever you're holding onto, falls apart, and blows away.

Like your dad's ashes, unless you make coffee out of them!

So, please don't forget our warning. I believe JG wants their story back so, ta ta, for now.

Virgil stared at himself in the mirror, fumbling his mask off his face. He had just gotten back from patrol around the city and had already started panicking. This was very normal for the spider themed vigilante. Basically anytime he went out on patrol he'd break down when he got home.

Maybe it was the stress of having people's lives and safety on your shoulders, or the knowing that you are currently breaking the law and be arrested, or that one wrong move could end up with people getting hurt, innocent people. One wrong move gets that trigger pulled, and then-

THUD

Virgil slammed his hands down on the shitty sink counter, forcing himself to fight back those fears. He wouldn't let that happen, not again.

Take a deep breath, take off your gloves. Take a deep breath, take off your cloak. Take a deep breath, oh shit there was blood all over his shirt, from a cut on his side. He hand't even noticed he had gotten hurt, when did that happen?! How much did he even bleed?! Was he going to di-

Stop. Take a deep breath, take off your shirt. Take a deep breath and treat that wound. Take a deep breath, and start to take off your makeup. Take another deep breath, a different, not bloody and cobweb patterned shirt on.

Slowly Virgil started to ground himself again. The panic started to slow as he wiped at his heavy eye-shadow. He ran his hands through his hair, and closed his eyes. Virgil shut out everything else but the sound of the basically busted fan in the other room. Then, slowly expanded it one thing at a time. He opened his eyes and sighed, trying to decide what to do next.

There was a sudden knock at Virgil's door, startling him. Quickly he hid his costume under the sink, rushed over and opened the door. Patton was standing there, looking very, very worried.  
And strangely, it seemed like they had the familiar remains of eye-shadow around their eyes, though it was a lot bright than black. Maybe white or a pastel.

"Are you okay?" They asked, frowning up at Virgil who was notably taller. "I heard a loud thump..."

Virgil smiled a bit, mentally cursing the SUPER thin walls. "Yeah, I'm fine. It might've been someone else."

Patton's frown grew and they tilted their head. "You look like you've been crying... Your eye-shadows all smudged."

"Wha..." Virgil started, than remember he hadn't fully finished removing his makeup. "I was just taking it off, I'm fine Pat."

"If you say so kiddo," Patton's frown started to shift into a smile, doing their little toe bounce. "I know it's a bit late, but I was wondering if we could hang out?"

Virgil glanced at back into his apartment at the clock next to his mattress. 1:01, am. Just a bit late? Still, he nodded and stepped aside, letting Patton into his apartment.

"I just have to go finish something." Virgil said quickly, rushing into the bathroom(the only other room the place had), and stashed his costume and such into the tiny closet he normally kept it in. He'd have to take care of that blood stain later.

When Virgil walked back into the main room, Patton was looking around. Not that there was much to look at. The only furniture was his mattress in one corner of the room, with a beat up night stand next to it. By the door to the bathroom was a desk and a chair Virgil had stolen from some racist asshole's porch. In the middle of the room was a small rug Virgil had also stolen but this time from a homophobic person's porch. And lastly next to the door was a mini fridge he had taken from someone's curb.

Yeah, Virgil had a habit of taking things. He never used the word steal though, because if you put up a Confederate flag or put a homophobic sign up, you're just asking to be robbed.

Patton looked at him and grinned. "Heya kiddo! Back already?"

Virgil nodded and sat cross legged on the desk. Patton looked at the porch chair, seemed confused then just shook their head and sat in it.

"I'm not even going to ask why you have this." They said, causing Virgil to laugh almost hard enough to fall off the desk.

Friendship man, it's great.


	4. The Prince and the Spider

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:Violence/fighting, implied suicide/suicide thoughts, start of a s*xual assault, gun.
> 
> A power reminder:
> 
> Virgil/Arachnid:/Creating and controlling a silk like martial
> 
> Roman/Princey:Creating bursts of sound

Princey threw himself from the roof he was standing on to the next, just catching himself on the edge. He had learned very quickly that this was a much faster way of travel, since using the sidewalks would mean people stopping him. Even in just the moonlight he was recognizable. Hero struggles am I right?

At the same time Arachnid jumped off an apartment rooftop, throwing down a net of webs to catch himself. He technically didn't have "spider abilities", though with work he had learned to be able to move like how someone with those abilities would. He was basically a Peter Parker but instead of having the ability to climb walls and shit but having to make artificial webs, he had the webs and made himself be able to climb walls and shit.

The two were on opposite sides of the street, and both were unaware of the other.

Princey paused on this rooftop, looking around the simple city. It was a pretty average place, and so was the crime rate. He had discovered last month that crime was more common on the richer side of town, since there wasn't much to steal on the other side. Plus, people that lived there could probably handle themselves and wouldn't need Princey.

Arachnid was looking around as well, though from the ground. He was about to move on when he spotted someone standing on the roof. Quickly he darted across the street towards the building. That was not a good sign.

Normally you don't see comic book heros or vigilantes stepping in to protect someone who was just in distress, but Arachnid, Virgil, had promised himself he would. A real hero should save everyone they can. still, it was the hardest part of this job. He could practically hear his pulse as he used his silk to pull himself onto the buildings roof.

"Sir," Virgil said, adjusting his voice slightly. The man seemed to be in some prince get up, which was definitely strange. "Are you alright?"

The man turned, to revel he was wearing a mask around his eyes. He grinned. "Well of course! Why wouldn't I be?"

Virgil frowned, trying to figure out this guys deal. "You were standing on the edge of a building in the middle of the night."

Princey stared at this weirdo, looking him up and down. He had a face mask on, and some cloak. Not to mention the things he was saying. Why would him standing on a building be concerning at all? Oh. OH! Princey chuckled a bit.

"No need to fear citizen, I am not in distress! I am merely searching for any crimes that may be about!" Princey said, putting his hands on his hips and letting the slight breeze blow through his cape. Very majestic, 100/10.

The person in front of Princey rolled their eyes and mumbled something like, "he's one of THOSE." under their breath.

"Excuse me?" Princey said, crossing his arms. "I couldn't quite hear that." He let sarcasm drip into his voice.

The person scoffed, looking around. "Whatever. If you're alright I'm going to get going now." They turned to leave, curling their hands into a fist and back out again.

Some things started to click in Princey's head, and his eyes narrowed. "How did you even get up here, there's not easy way up. I would know."

The person froze, staring straight ahead like they had seen a ghost.

Fuck, shit, fuck, SHIT! Arachnid was so screwed. Normally people on a roof never questioned how he got there, so it wasn't ever a problem. When you get talked out of that much distress it muddles your brain a bit. He couldn't tell this person he had created silk and pulled himself up using that, they'd freak out.

Suddenly the person gasped. "You're like me aren't you? A superhero!" They sounded beyond excited, and slowly Arachnid turned around.

Clouds shifted away from the moon, and Arachnid was able to see the man a bit clearer. After a bit he had a name for the face(or costume). Princey. He was another night-vigilante that the news touched on sometimes. And the main reason people speculated about the abilities. This bastard was far from careful about using his power, not to mention it gained a LOT of attention.

Arachnid sighed. "Maybe I am. That's none of your businesses."

The person, or Princey pouted, almost glaring at Arachnid. "Don't you realize? We could work together! We'd be the bets team! My sound and... Whatever your power is."

Arachnid raised an eyebrow. "I don't do teams." He said flatly, ignoring the voice in the back of his head reminding him he used to.

Princey's pout grew, and Arachnid almost expected him to stomp like a child. "Come on! We could do so much more good if we worked together."

Arachnid rolled his eyes and walked backwards to the the edge of the building, stopping when his foot made contact with the small ridge. "Listen Princey, my answer is no. That's final." With that he turned around, dropping off the building. He caught himself with a silk thread on the rusted fire escape, slowly lowering himself to the ground.

Princey watched the person leave, frowning. It wasn't common to meet someone else with powers, so why wasn't whoever that was exited about it? After some thinking Princey leapt off the building, creating small sound bursts to slow his fall. He'd show them that they'd be the best team!

Princey trailed Arachnid as best he could, though the hero was always looking behind him, was fast and wore basically all black minus the cobweb details on his shirt and cloak. But Princey wasn't one to just give up.

Finally Arachnid stopped by the local bar. Princey stopped just a bit behind him, hiding in the shadows.

Arachnid frowned, watching from the small alley. It was attached much bigger alley that was in between the bar and some other shop. In this alley were two people, one a pretty small female and the other a much larger man. The woman was walking very quickly, while the man was following her.

The women pulled out her keys, slipping them between her fingers. The man chuckled harshly. "Aw come on now pretty lady, no need to be afraid." He said, speeding up.

The women pulled out her phone, trying to turn it on. A grey light flashed on her face, signalling that it was dead. The man grabbed her arm that had the keys. He laughed as the women tried to free herself.

Arachnid darted out of the alley, firing silk at the mans face. He shouted in surprised and stumbled backwards, letting go of the women's arm. Arachnid ran over to the women, who stared at him in fear. "Go, run home. I can handle him."

The women nodded and started to run as Arachnid turned back to face the man. He was tearing the silk off his face, cussing up a storm.

"What the hell is this?!" The man roared. "What kind of freak are you?!" He glared at Arachnid, baring is teeth like an animal.

Arachnid slid into a battle stance, flexing his hands to prepare stronger silk. He stayed silent, staring at the man and channeling him to make a move.

"Not gonna talk hm?" The man reached to his belt, pulling out something. It flashed in the moonlight and Arachnid froze. A gun. This asshole had a gun.

"I heard about freaks like you. People with powers, I never believed it," The man smirked and pointed the gun at Arachnid. "Now, I do."

Arachnid was about the try to run when there was a loud sound and the man tumbled to the side. Arachnid stumbled back a bit like he had been pushed, looking around in shock. That sound hadn't been a gun shot, the gun hadn't gone off.

"Now, 'freak' isn't a very nice work you know." A voice said, and out from the smaller alley walked Princey, grinning.

Damn he was so cool. Princey smirked, very proud of himself. Way to prove to that spider weirdo you could help him. The asshole man looked from Princey to said spider weirdo, his gun knocked out of his hand.

The man darted for the gun, but a web shot out of the spider themed hero's hand, wrapping around the mans hands and forcing them together. Princey shot the gun father away, and forced the man against the bar's wall. The asshole started to try and run but spider dude shoved him back and covered his chest in basically fabric made of the spider silk, trapping him against the wall.

Princey grinned at the spider hero, crossing his arms triumphantly.

Arachnid looked at Princey and sighed. Sirens sounded, and he nodded at the opposite building, darting up the wall as quickly as he could. Princey followed using the fire escape, still grinning.

Arachnid glared at Princey. "Why the hell did you follow me?" He demanded, crossing his arms.

Princey shrugged. "I didn't," He lied, knowing if he told the truth this dude would hate him. "I saw the situation and stepped in. Just so happened you were there."

"Mhm," Arachnid mumbled, not really believing that bullshit. But whatever. "I had it handled. I didn't need your help."

"Really? It didn't seem like it," Princey shot back. "I think I just saved your life."

Arachnid rolled his eyes, looking away. "Whatever..."

Princey grinned. "I'll take a name as a thanks," He offered a hand. "Rom- Princey." He started to give his real name, but stopped himself.

Arachnid looked at the hand, then at Princey's face. With a sigh he shook the hand. "Arachnid." He replied.

"I have a feeling we're going to be a great team!" Princey declared, and Arachnid groaned, though inside, he hoped so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna spam post chapters to get this caught up to the Wattpad version


	5. Paths Crossing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:Roman hates on emo stuff, stalking, talk of Brendon Urine being shitty, Logan kinda stalks the others, virgil "claims he isn't hungry" caps,

Virgil was once again at work scrolling through Tumblr. Piper had called out that day, so Virgil was alone for at least a half hour before another coworker showed up for work. He was pretty tired, since last night him and Princey had gone on a pretty long patrol. Not that he minded, hanging out with that dork was kinda fun.

The sound of a bell alerted Virgil that people had entered the store. He looked up to find a strangely familiar man and... Patton?! That was, unexpected. Neither seemed like the type to shop here.

The two walked over, and Patton's face broke into a grin. "Virgil? I didn't know you worked here!" They said cheerfully, doing the toe bounce.

Virgil smiled a bit and nodded. "Yeah... Surprise?" He answered. "What are you looking for?"

The familiar man shrugged. "Just, browsing. I would normally never come to some place like here, but I need a gift for a friend." He said, looking around with a slightly scrunched nose. Like he could SMELL the edgy that the store radiated.

"Yeah, your super secret friend." Patton teased, poking the man's side playfully.

The man chuckled and shook his head. "We will let you know if we need anything!" He said, turning on his heels.

"Mind if I hang out here?" Patton asked.

The man shrugged in response. "Whatever you want to do my dear rayo de sol!"

Patton giggled and turned to chat with Virgil, blushing just a bit.

Roman looked around the store, eyes hurting from all the black, neons and horrible color combinations. He would normally avoid places like this, however, he wanted to get something for Arachnid. And this was clearly a place Arachnid would love to go. It seemed anytime the two would stop and chat on a rooftop he'd bring up some emo band.

Now, the reason Roman had decided to do this was what motivated him to do many things. Romance. Sure, things with his roommate hadn't gone as planned. Logan only talked to him when he needed something. But a hero didn't give up after one defeat! Just imagine it, two heroes(or vigilantes as Arachnid said) in love, fighting evil together. Oh the drama that could take place!

Plus, to sprinkle in the classic forbidden romance, Roman had learned that Arachnid lived on the poorer side of town. Totally not because Roman once followed him almost all the way home one time.

After a bit of searching Roman found two shirts, one MCR one and one Panic! one. Deciding the dude at the counter would probably be able to help Roman started towards the front.

The man, who seemed a bit too familiar, was chatting with Patton. The two very clearly knew each other, perhaps from school or something.

"You there, you are emo correct?" Roman said, cutting into the conversation.

The man looked up and nodded slowly, eyes a bit wide and mouth in a straight line.

"I of course, am not. Which one of these would someone like you prefer?" Roman held up the two shits, and the person looked from one to the other.

The awkwardness seemed to fad, and there was a small spark in his eyes. "I can't speak for all emos but Brendon Urie has been proven to kind of be a shitty human being, so MCR probably."

Roman nodded. "Well then, I shall return soon!" He turned to return the Panic! shirt, as any decent human being would. He wanted to do more, but Arachnid wasn't one for grand gestures. Though he never flat out said he disliked them, he always left before the police showed up, and avoided ending up in the press. Roman may be self obsessed, but he knew how to read people. A good hero should be able to after all.

The man, or Roman as Patton said, returned, handing over the shirt. The transaction was completed pretty quickly, and Virgil was ready to return to Tumblring(totally a word) when Patton spoke up.

"Hey Virgey, when's your break? We could all hang out!" They said cheerfully. Virgil so badly wanted to not go, since that'd be a lot of peopling. But Pat's smile was just so pure and happy, there was no way to say no to that!

Virgil looked at the clock. "In about half an hour." He answered, silently praying they'd be busy.

"Great! We'll meet you here and then we can all go out together!" Patton said, grabbing Roman's arm and skipping out of the shop.

Virgil sighed and leaned against the wall, already more tired. This way gonna be one long day.

The half hour went by a bit too quickly. As Virgil was checking out of work, the doors opened and Patton and Roman walked in. Holly, Virgil's coworker looked up from the CDs she was organizing.

"Hey, if you need anything let me know!" Holly said, in her classic costumer service voice. Holly was amazingly talented at acting, going from her normal deeper and monotone voice to a peppy and bright one instantly. It never ceased to impress Virgil.

Patton shook their head. "We're here to pick up a friend," They said cheerfully. "Sorry!"

Holly nodded and returned to organizing as Virgil walked over. "You know we could've just met at whatever place we're stopping at, right?" He said, raising an eyebrow.

Patton shrugged. "True... But this is more fun!" They said, with an eye-bleeedingly bright smile.

"I guess..." Virgil mumbled in response, shoving his hands into his pockets.

Roman looked around impatiently. "Let's get going, this place give me the creeps." He turned and quickly walked out, followed by a cheerful and confused Patton. Virgil nodded at Holly before walking out, blinking in the bright sunlight. Fucking dark store and fucking bright sun.

"Aw!" Patton squealed loud enough to break glass. "You look like a little kitten!" They grinned at Virgil, who blushed and looked down, bangs basically hiding his face. This only caused more giggling form Patton, and more embarrassment. The never ending cycle of Patton. Goddammit.

Patton kept teasing Virgil as the group walked, but in a lighthearted way. Virgil wasn't completely used to Patton's over-affection way of doing basically everything, but it was something he wasn't exactly unhappy with.

Roman, on the over hand, was getting a little ticked-off. He had wanted a day with one of his only friends, and a random emo(who honestly was cute and hot but like shut up Roman wasn't attracted to him at ALL) just HAD to show up. Not to mention that nagging feeling that he knew this Virgil wouldn't go away.

After about ten minutes of walking the group reached a cafe. Roman had picked it out, like most places him and Pat went. Since Patton was pretty far from rich, Roman was always careful to pick somewhere they both could afford. Not to mention that Patton knew the emo from his apartment, so he probably was poor as well.

The group walked in, gaining a few sideways looks. Which was probably reasonable. They were a strange group with no doubt, Roman seeming like a typical dude, and probably seemed straight to most people, Virgil was very clearly an emo and Patton was in all pastels and a skirt. Not exactly the typical friend group.

Little did they know they gained a very partial set of eyes. Logan's. 

Logan had gone here after returning form his classes. It was a nice place, and pretty cheap as well. What he was not expecting to see was his housemate and two other people. For the past few weeks or so Logan had been observing a few people those three to be specific. It started with the strange shiver he had felt when touching those people for the first time. It was the same feeling for each person, and had never happened other than them.

He had started with Roman, having found Princey's costume in the wash of their apartment. Of course the big headed vigilante was horrible at hiding his other identity. From there Logan started on Arachnid, seeing that him and Princey had started working together. Figuring out the spider themed vigilante's identity was a bit harder, though after a week or two he found that it was Virgil Storm.

Finally, Logan had started to observe Patton. It was after the two had met(officially) in costume. Logan became very interested in Patton, or Froggy's ability. It took a week, but Logan figured out it was Patton Pie. Some might call what Logan was doing 'stalking', but Logan merely saw it was science.

It was strange that the three knew each other. Patton and Virgil did live in the same building, and Virgil and Roman worked together in the night. But from what Logan had observed, the two only knew each other as either normal people, or in the latter's case, vigilantes only. And then there was the strange connection between Patton and Roman. Clearly Logan had to do more research.

The other three sat and ate(minus Virgil who claimed he wasn't hungry), unaware that they were being watched. And not just by Logan.


	6. Warnings and a Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:✨Shit logic✨, mass hacking by bad bois, Remus and Janus, threatening(?) manipulation, unedited.
> 
> Slight title change from the other version

After finishing their time at the cafe, Virgil returned to work. After spending another hour together, Roman and Patton went their separate ways. Patton returning to work and Roman to his apartment. Logan returned to work after finishing at the cafe as well. The rest of the day was incredible normal for what would happen in a few hours.

Slowly time ticked by, Virgil returned from work, then Logan, and finally Patton. For once Logan and Roman sat together in the main room, watching the news. It was rare the two spent time together, but now was an exception. Virgil was sitting around in his room, watching the news on his phone. Normally he would avoid something stressful like that, but it was useful for the vigilante. Patton was watching a kids cartoon in his own room, happily sewing up a rip on his costume.

Then, at exactly 11:59pm, every single device, in their town connected to a signal, started to flicker. Phones, televisions, computers. All around the town, on both the rich and the poor side people panicked, or tried to figure out when their device had broken. 

The screens went black, then very slowly an image faded in. Two men stood there, with a group of people behind them. Every person in the back wore a face-mask with a green, yellow and orange cycle with a gray owl inside drawn on. The two men each wore full masks, and hoods that cast a heavy shadow over their face.

All around the town, people went silent. Transfixed by this strange sight.

The man in yellow spoke first. "Hello dear fellow citizen, I know you are very confused right now," His voice sounded like it was strong enough to bring down entire buildings, and it sent a shiver of fear down even the bravest person's spine.

"I understand, but you have no reason to fear. We mean no harm." The yellow man continued.

"To most of you at least~" The man in green chimed in, voice almost like it had been put through several cheese graters before it had been used.

The yellow man chuckled harshly. "There is a group of people, hidden bellow the folds of your everyday life," He continued. "People with special talents, things no one else can do."

A picture of Princey flashed on screen. Roman froze completely, shock tearing at his throat. He tried to mask his fear, not knowing his roommate already knew about his other identity. All the way across town Virgil had a similar reaction, recognizing his friend immediately.

"These people live in fear it seems, WE live in fear," Anger seeped into the yellow man's voice as he motioned at the people behind him. None moved, in fact they all seemed frozen. "There are anywhere from 410 to 1,025. All of us having an ability NONE of you can understand."

The yellow man seemed to calm down, anger leaving his voice and body langue. "We will no longer live in fear, bellow those who natural selection failed." There was a smile in his voice, but not a natural one, it sounded fake, and like it was covering a thick sheet of malice.

Silence followed that, silence filled in different house by the whimpering of children, soft whispers of adult, people rushing to text their friends, a few even trying to reach their neighbors. Even in houses that were completely silent, there was a buzzing fear.

Finally, the yellow man spoke again. "By now your governor will be near getting control over the signals again. So a little message to my powered friends, join us. We can take our rightful place, a place nature itself gave us."

His voice softened, the previous anger and intensity gone. Instead the masked man seemed, kind. "You are perfectly normal, these abilities are not flaws, but gifts."

Both him and the man in green extended their hand, and slowly the motion spread into the crowd behind them. A murmur of conversation no one could make out started, getting louder and louder, and then the screens went back to black.

A few seconds passed and whatever had been on before started again, like nothing had happened.

But the effects were there.

Patton had stopped sewing, staring at the bright colors of the cartoon. The joy had been sucked out of him, shock, fear and doubt flooding back. They couldn't move, all they could do was stare at the characters moving around. They couldn't even really hear what was being said. All they could hear was the man's words, playing again and again.

Roman on the other side of town shot to his feet, stumbling to his room. He knew that if Logan saw him he'd know. Logan was smart, he'd be able to read that Roman was one of those people with powers. The hero shut his door and leaned against it, staring at his room. He hated this fear eating at his stomach.

Heroes weren't supposed to be afraid! When something like this happened they faced it with a brave face and destroyed the threat! So why did Roman feel so helpless. His one job as a hero was to protect people, but no matter what he couldn't get himself to move.

After a few minutes of sitting in shock, Logan stood, following Roman. He knocked on his roommates door. "Roman?" He said, trying to think of what to say here.

"W-what?" An answer came from behind the door. It didn't even sound like Roman, that was nothing like the brave fearless Roman that Logan knew.

"I...." Logan's hand hovered over the door knob. "I know. I know you're Princey and have those abilities."

Immediately Roman's anxiety spiked. Normally Logan was very skilled at blocking other peoples emotions from his mind, but mot at the moment. Perhaps it was how strong Roman's emotion was, how much emotion was crowding in since basically everyone in the entire town was terrified, or Logan's own fear. It was strange though, feeling Roman's fear.

A broken, and clearly fake laugh sounded form the other side of the door. "What are you talking about Logan? I think I'd know if I had powers!"

"I found your costume in the wash." Logan replied, closing his hand around the door knob. Roman's anxiety spiked again, climbing higher by the second.

There were a few seconds of silence before Roman spoke again. "Please... Please don't tell anyone. I'm not like those people, I'm only trying to help."

"I know," Logan said, nodding. "And so am I."

Roman's anxiety was absolutely through the roof at this point. Logan tried to remember the strategies he had researched years ago to help. Nothing came up to assisted.

"Wha-What do you mean?" Roman asked, a creak sound of a floor board signaling he had backed away from the door.

Logan's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. "I mean I am also a vigilante with special abilities, what else could I mean?"

Roman's anxiety was replaced with confusion, then a slight amusement. "Oh." Was the only reply that came out, before the door was opened.

Let's just say Roman didn't like like his normal regal self. His normally smooth and neat hair was disheveled, his normally attractive eyes(objectively, Logan told himself. Objectively attractive eyes), were blood-shot as though he had been crying, and he just looked defeated.

Logan nodded at him. "I have been observing your night patrols, seeming as you are a very prominent vigilante."

"Not creepy at all, but go on." Roman replied, raising an eyebrow.

"I never implied I believed it was creepy at all?"Logan said, confused. Roman was about to speak, but just shook his head and made a motion for Logan to go on.

Logan puzzled over Roman's comment for a few seconds before continuing. "I doubt you want to stop patrolling, as I do not want to either. And I doubt any of the others will. However, there is danger we will run into people from this group, or authorities will confuse us for them."

Roman nodded slowly. "Where are you going with this?" He asked.

"Right here, and to some others. Why?" Logan replied, again confused. Roman never made much sense.

"No it- Whatever, keep going?" Roman said, with a sigh.

Logan nodded and once again continued. "I also observed your friend, Arachnid. He seems to prefer working in a hiding style. I believe that will be ideal to continue. Added on, adopting the group strategy you two have been using will be useful."

Roman's eyes lit up. "That's a great plan specs!"

"I am aware," Logan replied. "Tonight, if you meet with Arachnid, alert him of the plan. I will alert others."

Roman nodded his confidence and pride reinstated. They could absolutely beat these villains! Because that's what heroes do.


	7. Lux

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if there's any TWs for this chapter. If I'm wrong please let me know!
> 
> Hero name reminder:  
> Roman:Princey  
> Virgil:Arachnid  
> Logan:L.O.S.T  
> Patton:Froggy  
> Which name used is minorly important ;)

Virgil just barely managed to will himself to leave his room after that broadcast. He had spent literally 3 hours just sitting on his bed, staring at the ceiling. In that time he had decided he'd stop being a vigilante. It was too big of a risk, and just sinking into the background again would be so much easier.

One last time Virgil would go out. Mostly because he wanted to let Princey know he was stopping. Hopefully he'd understand. God Virgil hoped he'd understand.

Arachnid reached his and Princey's meeting place before the other arrived. There was still a few people around, but none noticed Arachnid on the rooftop. Still, Arachnid squatted to make himself less noticeable.

Soon enough Princey joined Arachnid on the roof. Arachnid stood, looking at his teammate... His friend. Words wouldn't leave his throat.

"I assume you saw the broadcast?" Princey asked. Arachnid nodded, hands curling in and out of fists.

Princey looked around with a grin. "A friend of mine came up with a plan. He wants to form a group of heroes, one that could take down those villains and prove to the rest of the town that we mean no harm!" He looked back at Arachnid, expectation shinning in his eyes. "It'd be him, me yo-"

"I'm not doing this anymore," Arachnid blurted out. "It's not safe, and we might do more harm then good." He looked down at the people passing bellow.

Princey seemed taken aback, staring at Arachnid in very clear shock. "What? Arachnid what are you talking about?!"

Virgil shook his head and forced himself to make eye contact. "People are afraid of us now. And when people are afraid bad things happen..." His eyes went distant, mind sinking into the past.

Princey stayed silent for a few seconds, before firmly putting his hands on Arachnid's shoulders. "Listen to me," He said. "You aren't going to hurt anyone. I know that. How many people have you helped? And how many of those people were afraid?"

Virgil looked away again, shaking a bit. Princey bit his tongue, trying to think. Patton was good at comforting people... So what would they say? Dammit brain, work!

"We have to do this Arachnid," Princey continued. "If we don't those people will cause more harm then we could ever."

"But what if-" Virgil started, but Princey cut him off.

"Please. I need you, they need you." The prince themed vigilante motioned at the people walking bellow.

Silence claimed the air. The only sounds were cars passing, and the two breathing.

Arachnid sighed. "Fine... But the minute things start to go south, I'm out." He said, meeting Princey's eyes again.

Princey grinned. "Oh, by the way," he said, and handed Arachnid a bag. "A little gift." He winked, smirking.

At a different area of town Froggy was standing in an ally way, helping a lost dog get home. Their powers were very good at this, since all they had to do was know the address, and they could send the dog there easily. They had just finished and was watching the dog trot away when someone came up behind them.

"Froggy, am I correct?" A voice said, startling Froggy into turning around.

L.O.S.T stood there. Froggy nodded. "Sure am! You're l o s t right?"

L.O.S.T shook his head. "It's just pronounced just 'lost'. But if that is what you meant, indeed."

Froggy giggled. "Well nice to meet you Mr.Lost! Do you need anything?" They replied cheerfully.

"I do in fact. Me, and a few other vigilantes are forming a team, we would like you to join." L.O.S.T said.

Froggy's face dropped. "I-I don't want a part of that! You guys are creepy!" They said quickly, taking a step back.

L.O.S.T frowned, confused. "What do you...." He paused, then realized. "Oh. You believe that we are the group from earlier? We are against them."

Froggy let out a small breath. "Thank goodness! I was worried for a second!" They giggled and Logan's heart did a little flutter.

"I'm so in! Those big baddies aren't nice at all!" They grinned at Logan, offering a hand.

L.O.S.T shook himself out of his mini-trance and accepted the handshake with a nod. "We're meeting up with the others at my apartment."

So the two groups met in Logan and Roman's apartment. Arachnid and Princey arrived first since they had a head start. Froggy and L.O.S.T showed up a few minutes later.

"Greetings, seeming as your both here I assume all went well on your end?" L.O.S.T said, looking from Princey to Arachnid.

"Well this one almos- OW!" Before Princey could finish Arachnid kicked his shine. Not hard enough to gain that big of a reaction, but this was Princey we're talking about. The dramatic bitch hero™.

"It was great." Arachnid responded sharply. From the sound of his voice and eyes he was stiff-smiling under his face mask.

Froggy tilted they head, frowning a bit. "You two sound familiar... and I'm pretty sure I know this place..." They looked around.

Arachnid and Princey looked at each other in clear panic. Princey forced a stiff laugh. "Heh, what are you talking about?"

"Probably just a coincidence!" Arachnid said at the same time, shifting his voice a bit.

L.O.S.T shook his head. "We can discuss this all later. We need to get important things out of the way. Which is-"

Princey cut him off. "A group name name!"

L.O.S.T blinked in confusion, mouth open a bit. "Wha... Is that really important?"

"Well of course!" Princey said. "What will villains cower in fear of if we have no name for them to hear!"

Froggy smiled. "Plus it could separate us from that other group and help spread the word we're here to help!"

L.O.S.T looked from Froggy to Princey before sighing. "Fine. If you think that is a good step, go right ahead." He crossed his arms.

Froggy grinned, doing a little toe bounce. All three of the others had to look away as their hearts did a little flip in their chests.

"It should contrast the other group!" Froggy said, bringing his hand to his chin in that cartoon thinking position.

"I don't believe they have a name?" Princey said, raising an eyebrow so it peaked out of his masquerade mask.

"They do," Arachnid said, gaining the attention of the others. "It's Utrimque Tenebris."

"How do you know that?" L.O.S.T asked, suspicion clear in his voice. Arachnid panicked and scrambled for a way out.

"I uh... Googled them up. They have a website," Arachnid answered. "it didn't take that much looking."

"Pfft-" Princey laughed. "An evil organization has a WEBSITE. Oh that's great." He said in between laughs, shaking his head.

A small bout of silence followed that, no one sure how to break it. Finally Princey did.

"Plus, it's a dumb name. I mean 'Utrimque Tenebris'?" He rolled his eyes, smirking. "These guys sound like a bunch of dorks."

"It means 'the dark side' in Latin," L.O.S.T. answered. "If they are 'dorks', they're smart. And that makes them dangerous."

Froggy very clearly got an idea. "We could be called something like that but light instead of dark." They said, doing their toe bouncing.

"Well none of us know Latin so-" Princey started but both Arachnid and L.O.S.T spoke at the same time.

"Lux would suffice."

"Well Lux means light so..."

Princey stared at the two. "You, wha, how, Arachnid how the hell do you know Latin?!"

Arachnid shrugged. "I learned it for the aesthetic." He smirked under his face mask. Princey just sighed, and shook his head.

"You know what. Not even surprised." Princey said, smiling a tad at his spider themed friend.

Froggy pulled them all into a group hug. "Lux it is then!"

"Off to fight off the evil Utrimque Tenebris who plague our peaceful town!" Princey declared pretty damn loudly.

And with a bit of struggle, that's just what they did.


	8. Training is Messy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:the bois argue, caps, aNgSt, poverty/not having enough money for food, Remus and Janus at the end, hand comes out of ally way and grabs V boio, unedited(for now)

Now in a lot of super hero media, it is portrayed that every team can fight together right away with no trouble. Our four heroes, or vigilantes as Logan and Virgil said, quickly found that in reality, it was the opposite. The four were very different from each other, and thus, there was a lot of conflict.

Unfortunately, it started very quickly. After meeting as a group for the first time they spent about half an hour before all deciding it was late, and they would meet again. In the same place of course. Logan and Roman's apartment was a perfect place, mostly because it was large and well, isolated form the other residents. 

Due to it being Sunday none of the four had work, so they were able to meet early on in the day. And due to literally living in the meeting space, Logan and Roman arrived first. In that order.

By the time Roman strutted out of his room, grinning, Logan was already seated at the couch with a cup of coffee. Just, staring at the blank TV screen. His mask was sitting on the table in front of the couch.

"Well greetings nerdifier!" Roman said, flopping next to his flatmate.

Logan glanced over at him before returning his gaze to the TV. "Salutations Roman. I suggest you go get your mask, since it seems you wish to keep your identity a secret from the others."

"Ah, yes! Thank you for reminding me!" roman shot to his feet and returned to his room, emerging with his mask soon after.

Logan didn't look away from the TV as Roman returned to sitting next to him. Roman looked at his flatmate, then at the TV, and back to his flat mate.

"You know it's not on... Right?" Roman said, pointing at the TV.

Logan rolled his eyes. "Of course I know. I am gauging the public feeling, after all, last night would've been jarring to everyone."

"AH," Roman said a bit too loudly. "That... That makes sense." He nodded, looking around the room. A few seconds, maybe like 6, passed before Roman started to fidget with his mask, then got up and started to pace.

Logan sighed. "Must you do that? It is quite distracting." He said a bit sharply, rubbing his temple with a sigh.

Roman looked at his and paused in pacing. "I can't sit still for this long! Not when there's so much we could be doing."

"We can't do anything now. Rushing in without a plan is dangerous and reckless." Logan answered.

"Yeah well being quick to jump into action saves people so... There!" Roman retaliated.

Logan looked at Roman. "It also endangers people and could make the situation worse. A plan gives directions to follow and helps calm the situation down."

Roman scoffed, searching his brain for a come-back. "Well, uh, 87% of plans fail anyway! So there's basically no point."

Logan face palmed. "Falsehood! Only 67% do, and even so there is most definitely a point!" He said, voice raising to a yell.

the two continued to bicker until the others arrived, and even then avoided speaking or addressing each other. Unfortunately that was only the first. 

After setting up a plan the group started to meet every night. Mostly to adjust to working together and using their powers/abilities as a group. And of course, that led to conflict.

They had been working on traveling faster one night about a week after the groups start. Arachnid was the only one with a really effective power at this, so he was forced to be the back bone that night. Not exactly fun.

"Arachnid!" L.O.S.T yelled as Princey fell right through the web that had been meant to catch his fall. "There was no way that web would catch him."

Froggy ran over to their teammate while Arachnid spun to face L.O.S.T. "You have to give me more warning!" Arachnid retorted angrily. "I can't produce webs like that." He snapped before crossing his arms.

"You need to learn to then. There will be no warning in a real situation," L.O.S.T replied. "We're facing a big threat, we need to be more prepared than that." He motioned over at Princey, who was being helped up by Froggy.

Arachnid rolled his eyes. "I know how big the threat is, trust me." He grumbled, looking off to the side.

L.O.S.T frowned. "You need to be able to catch someone at seconds notice. No one is going to be able to warn you that they're falling off a building."

"I know." Arachnid replied flatly.

"When someone's life is at risk your power can't be the thing holding you back." L.O.S.T continued ignoring the interruption.

"I know." Arachnid replied a bit louder, grip tightening on his crossed arms.

"If someone had been pushed off a building, and you had to stop them at this rate it'd be highly unpr-"

Virgil cut him off. "I know! I know all of this so stop telling me!" He yelled as his hands fell aggressively to the side. By the look in his eyes, L.O.S.T's comment hit too close to home.

"Let's all calm down kiddos... I'd say it's about time for a break!" Froggy cut in, stepping between the two. They reached into their supply bag and pulled out four cookies.

Princey rushed over, and Arachnid and L.O.S.T looked away from each other. That argument was settled intimidatingly. Froggy was really fucking good at baking like hell they'd pass that up.

n̶o̶t̶t̶o̶m̶e̶n̶t̶i̶o̶n̶v̶i̶r̶g̶i̶l̶n̶e̶e̶d̶t̶h̶e̶f̶o̶o̶d̶

Argument after argument followed. Even when facing threats the bickering was there. Whether it was the normal threats they used to face or smaller members of the Utrimque Tenebris. Though the arguments mostly were between Logan, Roman and Virgil, Patton sometimes got dragged into them. Much to their distress.

However, the clock ran out of time. And the real threat was getting closer and closer... Until...

It arrived. 

The group was walking back from a pretty successful night. They were planning to hang out at Roman and Logan's apartment(aka their base at this point). It had only been one and a half weeks since they had started the team, but news of them was spreading. Unfortunately it spread to the wrong people.

As the four were turning down the street that the apartment was one, a hand came out of a alleyway between two buildings and landed on Arachnid's shoulder.

Two figures walked out of the alley-way, the shadows hiding them mostly. The person with their hand on Arachnid spoke first. "Well hello there Lux~"

The two stepped into the light, and all four froze in place.

Time, had run out.


	9. Out of time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:They fight, Remus/Janus, unsymp. Janus/Remus, former unsymp. Virgil, I'm bad at writing combat-, death, neglectful parent/dead parent, drug/alcohol usage, cult stuff, caps, angst(?), blood/cuts, unedited(i really gotta go through and edit these-)

Virgil pulled away as his heart trying to leap out of his throat. The others had a similar reaction, stepping back. Roman even steady himself into a more battle ready position.

"Why so afraid?" The person who had grabbed Virgil said with stiff calmness. "We are very much the same."

The one who seemed to be the leader was in what looked like a black button up and had a black and yellow cloak of sorts. They was wearing the same mask from the video, only know they could see it in more detail. The right side was plain black while the other a strangely realistic snake face.

The person next to the snake dude chuckled at their silence. He was just in a plain T-Shirt, with leather gloves that clearly had been used before this. His mask was all black with a hyper realistic smile on it. "Oh goody, cats got your tongue?"

Princey snapped out of his shock immediately. "We are nothing like you!" He yelled. "You're evil and we're good!"

The snake chuckled cruelly. "Evil, good. What the difference really?" They said, folding their hands together. "We know about you all. You're outcasts, much like ourselves."

Virgil backed up so he was back among his friends, gaining the attention of the enemies.

"Ah, Virgil. How have you been?" The snake man sneered. "We've all missed you, such a pity you turned so suddenly."

"Shut up." Arachnid growled and curled his hands into fists.

The green man giggled. "Still just as spicy as before! Some things never change hm?"

The other three were staring at Arachnid, who pointy avoided looking at them. "I told you to shut it!" Arachnid shouted and lashed out, a web shooting out of his hand. It hit the green man and he stumbled backwards. The other's followed suit very quickly.

The yellow man made a tutting sound as a storm cloud like group of pigeons flew towards them. They seemed to melt into a puddle and a snake much too big to be natural rose form that puddle. The snake started to bite the pigeons with deadly accuracy.

L.O.S.T narrowed his eyes and was about to help when his body jerked to the side harshly. "Oh no you don't~" the green man said, peeling the last of Virgil's web off.

Princey looked over from where he was trying to hit the snake. "Lo!" He yelled and ran over, raising his hand to hit the green man when it jerked backwards.

"Oh dear Roman, don't you realized that you can't win?" The green man growled harshly. He turned to face the prince themed vigilante. "We are stronger. I am stronger. Since the day of our birth I have overpowered you."

Roman's face faded into complete shock and fear. "Re-Remus?!" He tried to take a step back but his legs wouldn't move. Remus nodded, head titling to the side.

"Bingo, my brother~" Remus replied, motioning with his hand. Roman's body lifted off the ground and was pulled over to Logan. The two sat there completely helpless.

By this point all of the pigeons had either died or fled, and Patton was being backed into a corner by the snake. They struggled to fight back but the snake destroyed anything that came it's way.

And Virgil, just watched. His body wouldn't move. He was stuck, frozen. All he could do was watch as his teammates, his friends, were defeated. He was... useless. When it came down to the life threatening time, he was completely useless. Person after person he just couldn't save, because he was no hero. He was just some dumbass kid who had a power. Virgil was helpless, watching as Patton's back hit a wall of a nearby building. Watching as the snake closed in. Watching as Remus slowly approached Roman and Logan. Just stuck, watching....

Again. Slowly Virgil's grasp on the present slipped away and he was tumbling into the past.

It had really started with Virgil's mom. She had been... distant to put it simply. She barely paid any attention to Virgil and his older sister. Virgil's father had died when Virgil was very young and ever since that Virgil's mom was just, gone. So Virgil's sister, Nayla, stepped into the parental role.

Nayla had been great. She had raised Virgil and taken care of him. She worked a lot since their mother used her money on drugs. Sure, it wasn't perfect but it wasn't awful. The two of them had each others back.

But all good things must come to an end.

When Virgil was 17 Nayla died. A bus she had been on had crashed. The driver was intoxicated and had crashed into the edge of a building. While there were a lot of injuries, Nayla was the only one to die. The news treated that as great news. Only one person died in this tragic crash! It's not like she had a family and someone she had to care for!

Virgil avoided taking the bus now.

A week after Nayla died he ran away from home. He found a job at some restaurant. He traveled form cheep hotel to cheep hotel. It was at his job he met Remus and Janus.

Janus worked there as well, and Virgil was always very intimidated by them. They wore a shit ton of punk things, not to mention they didn't seem to give any fucks about what other people thought. Janus was Virgil's first real exposure to a queer person, so of course he was beyond surprised.

Remus was Janus's boyfriend and would come in during Janus's breaks. Virgil and Janus worked a lot of the same shifts so they started to hang out together. The three slowly became friends. After a month and a half Janus and Remus admitted to having powers, and Virgil did as well.

Then the cult shit started.

Janus and Remus invited Virgil to join this group. It was pretty small at the time, five people plus Janus and Remus. They talked about how people with these abilities didn't deserve to be repressed and hidden away as they were. And Virgil had to agree. And that idea reminded him of Nayla. Nayla had never gotten upset with Virgil because of his power. Never told him to repress or hide it. And that's what dragged him in.

Things started to get violent quickly. Attacking people who Janus or Remus said were evil and bad. And Virgil just mindlessly followed. He had felt lost before, so having someone tell him his place and what to do helped. So he listened.

Virgil adopted the name Fear. He became the strongest fighter in that group. He had a place and was respected for the first time ever. But it didn't feel right. They were hurting people, people who seemed to be innocent. After only five months of being in Utrimque Tenebris, Virgil left.

Leaving was far from easy. No one wanted him gone. After all Fear was powerful and frankly, unstoppable. But Virgil was not Fear. He moved towns, started working at the music store and moved into the apartment. And after a month of living in that town he became Arachnid.

Being a vigilante wasn't easy. Especially while having the fear of Utrimque Tenebris in the back of your head. Virgil messed up a lot. People had died because he had froze up and failed to protect them. But not anymore, not again. He'd lost enough already he would NOT lose again.

Arachnid forced himself into the present. Froggy was still forced against a wall but the snake hadn't bit yet. Princey and L.O.S.T were bleeding but not badly. Arachnid turned his attention to Froggy and the snake sensing that situation was more dangerous. He shot a web at the snake pinning it to thr ground as he ran over.

"Froggy, go help the others I can handle this." Arachnid said, keeping an eye on the snake as it struggled to free itself. Froggy stared at him for a few seconds before nodding.

"And be care," Arachnid said, looking back at Remus. "He can control blood, so make sure he can't see you."

Froggy seemed to want to question how Arachnid knew this before they nodded and ran off to help their friends.

Arachnid turned back to the snake, only to find Janus yanking the last of the web off. They glared at Arachnid who glared right back.

The clock had started once more,but not for our heroes.


	10. Rising Heroes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:stil bad at writing combat, unsymp. Remus/Janus.
> 
> a note about the masks cause it's something that's hard to fit natrually into writing, Roman and Logan have masquerade stye masks, Patton and Virgil have face masks(the kind we all should be wearing now) and Janus and Remus have full face masks(currently ;) ) Just wanted to clear that up!

Arachnid and Janus were locked in a staring contest. They were both waiting for the other to make a move, watching for any sign that the other was about to strike. Things over with the others was much more chaotic. Froggy was using the pigeon stagey but in a different way. They created a shield of pigeons for them, L.O.S.T and Princey. The three moved around and threw attacks at Remus whenever they could. Considering it was a bunch of pigeons, someone who created sound and someone who was just naturally very loud, things were far from quiet. The distant sound of sirens started, and all six knew exactly what was about to happen.

"The cops will recognize you," Arachnid said and flexed his fingers. "They'll know who you are."

Janus scoffed. "And they won't know you. They'll assume you're just like us, after all, they view all of us as freaks." They spat out angrily. The figurative mask was off, no more Mr. Nice Snake.

Arachnid glanced back at his friends, before returning his gaze to Janus. "You've lost. Give it up Janus."

"This isn't over yet Fear," Janus said, shaking with anger. "You will pay for this." They melted into a puddle, and from that puddle came a mass of steam making it impossible to see.

Slowly the steam cleared, the reveal that Janus and Remus had vanished. Arachnid ran over to his teammates. "We need to get out of here." He said, looking around for an easy escape.

The sirens were getting louder, and they all knew that Janus was right. The cops wouldn't be on their side.

"Follow me," L.O.S.T said, quickly running down an alleyway. The others looked at each other before following. "We can't go straight to the apartment, it'd be too easy to follow us. We need to take a lounger route.

"Right... That makes sense." Princey said with a nod, looking over his shoulder. He didn't seem at all like his normal self. Even after their other hard battles Roman had bounced back very easily. Something had gotten to him, and all three of the others could tell.

After 5 minutes they reached the back of the apartment building. They took their normal way through the window, though with them all being tired and Princey and L.O.S.T being hurt it was harder.

Once they were all inside Froggy closed the window and locked it, turning to face the others cheerfully. "We should all get cleaned up!"

L.O.S.T nodded. "I can go get a first aid kit." He went to go to the bathroom but Arachnid stopped him. 

"No, you go sit down. I can get it," Arachnid said, and before L.O.S.T could protest the spider themed vigilante shoved him gently and smirked under his mask. "Relax nerd, you're hurt, I'm not. It makes sense for you to sit and rest."

L.O.S.T sighed and joined Princey on the couch, watching as Froggy went into the kitchen to get food and drinks. L.O.S.T removed his mask, which made Princey give him a look.

"Dude," Roman said. "You sure you want that off?" He pointed to the mask in Logan's hands. Logan looked at him and nodded.

"I have noticed a figurative divide of sorts between the team, we lack trust. If we are to function properly it would be ideal for us to know our other identities." Logan said and put his mask on the table.

Roman nodded slowly. "I guess you're right." His hand drifted to his own mask, and after a few seconds he took it off and put it next to Logan's.

Silence followed that, it wasn't too awkward but it wasn't comfortable by any means. Soon Arachnid returned from the bathroom with a first aid kit, and froze when he saw Logan and Roman without their masks.

Logan looked at him. "I assume your confusion is due to the lack of masks?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Arachnid rolled his eyes and put the first aid kit down. "Uh, duh. What else would I be confused about."

Logan looked like he was about to say something but shook his head. Instead he said, "There is a lack of trust on this team, and therefore I believe that it would be beneficial to our out of costume identities known."

Arachnid nodded slowly. "Uh... Right," He said, hands curling in and out of fists. After a few seconds of standing still he removed his own mask, nervously biting his lip.

Roman's eyes lit up. "Hey I know you!" He said loud enough to startle Virgil into taking a step back. "You were that dude that Patton knew!"

"Hm?" Froggy said looking over form the kitchen. "I heard my name?"

The others all looked at them, before Virgil snorted, which caused Roman to start laughing. Even Logan cracked a smile.

"Whoopsie," Patton said with a giggle. "Guessing I don't need to take this off now." they pointed to their mask. Still, they took it off and put it on to counter.

"Kinda weird, that we had connections." Virgil said as he opened the first aid kit.

"It must be fate!" Roman declared, again pretty loud.

Patton walked into the room and put down a plate of vegetables and chips, grinning. "Ooo! Yeah! We were meant to become a team."

Logan shook is head. "Fate is a made up construct, it is merely a coincidence."

"Pretty big coincidence then," Virgil said, starting to work on patching Logan and Roman up. "I mean Patton moving into the same apartment I live in, Roman and Patton being friends, Roman and Patton coming to the place I work the same day an evil group of bastards announced themselves."

Logan shock his head. "The town is quite small, fate is made up completely."

The debate continued as the four ate. Slowly it shifted the normal more casual conversation. They pointedly avoided talking about the things that had happened. Like Roman being Remus's brother, or Janus implying their past relationship with Virgil. That was avoided in favor of debating which Disney villain was the best, something Virgil and Roman got really heated about. Needless to say the team's walls had finally been broken down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are going to get more slice of lifey and backstory stuff, so the action is on hold for now <3


	11. Daily Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:Insomnia, not eating a lot, V has mommy issues, I'm not too good at writing Remy, text speech(in a text convo) 
> 
> Moxiety stans your juice is coming next chapter

Virgil was the first to leave the apartment, since he had the earlier shift at work. He had to walk all the way across town to get there so he was a few minutes late. But that was fine, Piper was always alright with them being a bit late.

When Virgil walked in Piper was on the phone, he slipped into the backroom to put his bags away. He couldn't help but catch a few things form Piper's conversation.

"Hm?"

"Alrigh-"

"No, I don't think so."

"I'll keep an eye on him."

Virgil came out of the back room just as Piper was hanging up. Piper turned, surprised to find Virgil there. "Oh, hey there V. I didn't hear you come in."

Virgil nodded. "I think the door bell is broken," He said, leaning on the wall behind the counter. "Who were you talking to?"

"Hm?" Piper said as she tucked her phone into her pocket. "On the phone? My mom, she wanted me to watch my younger brother."

"Oh, makes sense." Virgil nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets.

Piper frowned at him. "You seem tired..." She walked over to the counter, leaning on it.

Virgil smiled at her. "I'm fine, me and my friends just stayed up too late, that's all."

Piper faked a gasp, putting her hand over her chest. "Friends?! My boy has friends?!"

"Oh shut up," Virgil said, laughing and blushing. "I'm not THAT bad."

Piper raised an eyebrow. "Virge, before now the only people you talked about interacting with was that weird old lady."

"Hey leave Ginger out of this," Virgil said, still smiling. "She's the best weird old lady ever."

Piper laughed and nodded. "Sure thing bud." She answered. Her smile vanished and she tilted her head.

"Still Virgil, you need to take care of yourself," Piper said. "This whole barely sleeping or eating isn't healthy."

Virgil looked away. "I know, I'm working on it." He bit his lip.

Piper walked over to him, gently turning his head to look at her. "That's all I can ask..."

Virgil smiled and leaned into the touch a bit. Piper had taken a very mother like role in Virgil's life. Monkey brain has a female be nice to it and BLAM, attachment. Not that Virgil minded too much, Piper was a lot like Nayla, and it almost felt like he had his sister back.

Almost.

Piper moved away. "You're on counter today, there's no way I'm letting your tired ass stock the shelves." She walked away with a smile, and Virgil was left alone at the counter.

Down the street Patton was in a similar situation. They were alone at the counter at their place of work, a local cafe. It mostly sold coffee to collage students, since everything was cheep and easy. Today was a much slower day though, so Patton had time to chill.

"Hey hun," A voice said behind Patton, making them turn. Remy, the owner and manager of the store had come out of the kitchen. "Whatca up to?"

Patton shrugged with a smile. "Nothin' much! It's a kind of slow day." They motioned at the mostly empty room. There were only one or two costumers sitting around.

Remy nodded. "Mhm, Tuesdays are always our slowest days, aren't they?"

"Yeppers!" Patton said, bouncing on their toes. Remy chuckled, watching them.

"Whoever manages to scoop you up into a relationship will be very lucky. You're like a ball of adorableness." Remy said, leaning against the counter beside Patton.

Patton flushed, playing with their hair. "Heh, you're just being nice."

Remy shook his head. "Whatever you say hun."

Patton nodded, and looked over at the television they had in the store. They froze up completely, staring at it in shock.

It was some local news station, playing footage from their fight last night! Luckily the footage didn't have any sound, and only caught towards the end. Still, Lux had never been filmed before. In fact they hadn't really got much public attention.

Remy followed his gaze to the TV. "Had you heard? People are saying there's another team of those weird powered people."

"Heh, that would be weird, right?" Patton said, trying to force a laugh. They couldn't look away from the TV, and had to hold their own hands to stop them from shaking.

Remy looked at them and frowned. "Are you alright? You look sick...."

Patton forced themselves to look away from the news. "Yeah I'm fine, this whole things scary."

Remy made a sound of agreement. "Still can't believe people like that exist." He motioned at the TV, which was talking about who was in Lux(of course, the news didn't know they were called Lux yet).

Patton nodded and looked down at the counter. "Yeah... It's crazy..."

A costumer came in at that moment, so Patton had to return to working. Still, that shock didn't really fad for the rest of the day.

A few hours later, Virgil was on break. He was just sitting in the backroom scrolling through Tumblr when he got a text message. Last night the members of Lux had exchanged phone numbers, so that they could contact each other easily. It was from Patton.

Pat 🐸:Heya kiddo, are you free? 😊😋🤗

Virgil:currently yeah

Pat🐸: Well want to hang out? 🐶🤨

Virgil:my breaks almost over

Virgil:after works for me tho

Pat 🐸:Sounds great, see you then kiddo!💘😊😻🌈

Virgil chuckled at Patton's strange texting habits before standing again, looking over at the clock. He had only a few hours left of work, since he got off around 5:30. currently it was 3:30.

Virgil:see u in 2 hours then


	12. Similar Backgrounds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:Gay panicking, reference to past normal panic, emoji use outside of text speech,

By the time Virgil was clocking out it was 5:33, the sun was starting to sink, and Patton had showed up. Wait, Patton had showed up?

"Oh, hey. I thought we'd just meet up?" Virgil said, walking over to his friend.

Patton shrugged and smiled. "I got off early and wanted to come down! Plus, it's really great in here!" They looked around, grinning.

Virgil smiled a bit and nodded. "Yeah, it-"

Piper cut him off from behind. "Oh, V! Is this one of your friends?" She said, smiling at Patton. "How good to meet you."

Patton smiled back. "It's great to meet you two!" They said, giggling. "Whatever your name is."

"Piper," She answered and tilted her head. "Patton, correct? V is very fond of you."

Virgil frowned, trying to remember when she could have learned Patton's name. It was probably back when Patton and Roman had came in, yeah, that made sense. Virgil has zoned out, and came back to find Patton and Piper deep in conversation. Patton seemed a bit upset, and Piper did seem off.

"Uh, Pat, we should probably get going." Virgil said, nodding at the door.

Patton blinked and nodded. "Right... It was nice meeting you!" They said to Piper, before hurrying out the door.

Virgil followed, nodding good bye at Piper as he went. Once outside Patton seemed to relax. With a grin they ran at a small pile of leaves and stepped on it, giggling at the crunch. Virgil smiled and felt his heart try to choke him, but in a different way the normal.

Patton turned and looked at Virgil, blushing a bit. "Sorry, the crunch just makes me happy!"

Virgil shrugged. "It's fine, honestly that was," Cute he stopped himself from voicing his thoughts and opted for, "a mood."

"A mood?" Patton asked, returning to Virgil's side as the two started to walk back to their apartment. "Oooo! Is that internet slang? I really gotta learn to keep up!"

"A mood is like when something is relatable," Virgil explained. "Like making a joke about depression or something."

"Oh, that makes sense," Patton nodded. "Thanks VV!" They said and grinned at Virgil.

"No problem." Virgil managed to say. Because goddammit Patton was cute-

Patton started to skip, and Virgil had to speed walk to keep up. Not that they weren't speed walking before, cause, you know, 🌈. They walked(and skipped) in silence, once in a while one of them would step on a leaf and get a crunch. But other than that it was quiet.

Until Patton saw a dog up ahead and literally squealed. "V look!" they said, grabbing on to Virgil's arm. Virgil stumbled a bit and nearly pushed Patton out of instinct. He managed to stop himself though and looked at the dog.

"Uh yeah, dog?"

"It's so cute! I wanna go pet it." Patton stared at the dog like it was the most perfect thing to ever exist. In the enby's eye,s it probably was.

"Why don't you then?" Virgil asked, raising an eyebrow.

Patton lit up even and pretty much dragged Virgil over to the dog and it's owner. "Heya, is your dog friendly?" Patton asked, bouncing like a child.

"Normally yeah..." The owner said, looking down at their dogs. "He's been a bit agitated lately."

Patton crouched near the dog, tilting their head as though talking to it. It took Virgil a second to realize they probably were. Patton started to pet the dog, smiling. "He's probably just been bored, his type's normally super energetic and you know, having built up energy can't be good."

The owner seemed surprised. "Oh, yeah that makes sense," They watched as their dog licked Patton's hand. "You're really good with dogs I'm guessing."

Patton giggled and stood. "People have called me an animal whisperer." They said with a shrug. The owner smiled at him.

"Really? That's a talent there," They said, petting their dog. "It was nice meeting you!" They continued on their way, dog seeming a lot more happy.

Virgil looked around before looking at Patton. "Pat that was risky," He hiss-whispered.

Patton looked at him, confused. "What? How?"

"Using you powers like that! Imagine what could have happened if they'd noticed!" Virgil said, voice raising a bit.

Patton frowned. "V... What use are our... abilities if we don't use them to help people? Don't the small things matter just as much as the bigger ones?"

Virgil sighed, shaking his head. "Still, you need to be more careful. Please promise me you will avoid doing things like that?"

"I don't want to lie to you V, that would make me a bad friend." Patton said, shaking their head. Virgil seemed taken aback, sinking backwards a bit. He shook his head and switched back to normal, but still, it had happened.

"Whatever... Let's just keep moving." Virgil turned and kept walking. Patton followed, staying close by his side.

After a few more minutes they reached their apartment, to be greeted by Ginger who was sitting outside. "Ah, there are my two favorite neighbors!"

The old lady hobbled over, grinning. "I haven't seen you two around lately, how have you been?"

"Great!"

"Alright..."

Patton and Virgil answered at the same time. Ginger smiled, nodding. "You two seem to be friends? That's good, I knew you'd get along."

Patton giggled. "We sure do!" They nodded, grinning and Virgil who gave a small smile back.

"People with similar backgrounds always get along," Ginger said, nodding and resting both her hands on her cane. "I've seen it time and time again."

Virgil and Patton tensed a bit, glancing at each other before quickly looking away. "What... What do you mean?" Patton asked, staring at Ginger.

Ginger raised an eyebrow. "You haven't reached that point yet?" She waited, as if expecting a response. "Understandable, apologies dearies."

Patton looked over at Virgil who pointedly was looking away. "We uh, should get going!" Patton said, gently taking his friends hand and rushed towards the entrance. Ginger watched them leave, a sad expression on her face. 

The old women tucked a wisp of hair behind her ear and sighed, walking back to her chair slowly. "If only they knew.... If only they knew..." She mumbled to herself, eyes flashing a bright purple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whatever you do, dtp


	13. Bonding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:Nearly dying at birth, minor injury, things are getting gay, sibling hatred/rivalry, mention of racism/racist ass American government system, 
> 
> PSA:In this I gave Roman a learning disability, how it effects him is from what I observed of my brother. I am by no means an expert, and if you are more of an expert PLEASE inform me.

While Virgil and Patton were hanging out, across town Roman was hard at work. After what had happened, he had to blow off some steam. Sure, they had won but that was only because of Virgil, Roman had completely failed. He'd let his emotions about Remus distract him from the battle at hand.

Currently, Roman was attacking the punching bag he had set up in his room, each punch both draining and growing his anger. Remus had been right. Roman had always been the weaker twin. When the two were were first born Roman hadn't been breathing, it was only because the doctors acted quickly that he had survived. And because of that Roman had struggled growing up.

Roman's brain had been damaged by the lack of oxygen. It had gotten him stuck with a shit ton of problems, the biggest one being a learning disability. Roman's parents had very much babied him, and it pissed Roman off. He was just as capable as Remus! What made that bastard smarter, stronger or better than Roman?! What did he have that Roman didn't?! His fist slammed into the bag at a strange angle, sending a jolt of pain through him.

He gasped sharply and took a step back, clutching his arm. "Dammit..." He mumbled, tears welling up in his eyes. He tried to blink them away but it just made it worse. At that moment there was a knock, startling Roman.

"Roman," Logan's voice said. "Are you in there?"

"Yes, what do you need?" Roman called back, voice cracking. He winced, anger at himself only growing.

Logan opened the door and walked in. "Is your arm alright?" He questioned pointing at Roman's still clutched arm.

Roman shrugged . "It's nothing, just hit that at the wrong angle." He pointed back at his punching bag, wiping the tears out of his eyes,

Logan frowned. "That could cause extreme damage if not treated properly," He said. "Stay here."

Before Roman could protest Logan left. Roman sighed and shook his heads, though he couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face. After a few minutes Logan returned with an an ice pack a pill bottle. Calmly Logan handed Roman the ice pack.

"Place this where it is most sore." He ordered, opening the pill bottle as he spoke. Roman obeyed and pressed the ice pack against his upper arm. He flinched at the sudden cold but slowly adjusted.

Logan fished out a pill and handed it to Roman. Then grabbed Roman's water bottle from the floor and handed it over as well. Roman followed his cue and took the pill.

"That pill isn't going to like kill me or something?" Roman joked, managing a smirk.

"Of course not, why would I want to do something like that?" Logan asked, looking generally confused. "It was a Tylenol, it'll help with swelling."

Roman chuckled. "I was joking specks, I know you wouldn't kill me. I'm much too valuable to the team."

"Ah, right," Logan said, adjusting his tie. "However... I don't think your value is the only reason I want you around..." His voice lowered, almost to the point of a mumble.

Roman raised and eyebrow, sinking down onto his bed. "Oh?" He prompted.

Logan looked away, his pinks turning a bit pink. "I have to admit I've started to maybe, sort of... enjoy your company."

Roman faked a gasp, bringing his hand to his chest and in the process dropping the ice pack. As Roman reached down to get the ice pack Logan managed to clear his face of the embarrassment.

"I never thought I'd see the day! Logan enjoys something other than books!" Roman said quite loudly, grinning.

Logan rolled his eyes. "It is a natural response of the human brain to enjoy human company. It was used as a survival tech-"

Before the nerd could continue Roman cut him off. "Oh shut up and just admit you like me." He teased, grinning.

Logan made a small snort like sound, sitting beside Roman. "Unimportant. What is concerning is that you were being reckless when working out. If you are not careful you could badly hurt yourself."

Roman avoided eye contact. "I know, I just got distracted."

"By what?" Logan questioned. "It would be best to remove that distraction from the picture when working out in the future."

"I doubt Utrimque Tenebris will willingly vanish anytime I need to work out." Roman grumbled and flopped backwards. The ice pack fell off his arm and Roman made no attempt to stop it.

Logan looked down at his teammate. And with a small sigh he picked up the ice pack and placed it back on Roman's arm, pressing it in a silent order to hold it. Roman felt his cheeks go warm at this, and out of completely helplessness obeyed.

"You are correct," Logan said, moving his hand away. "In that case it is probably best to avoid thinking about them when you are working out?"

"It's not that easy Lo. I use working out as an escape for... that." roman answered, staring up at his ceiling where glow in the dark star stickers were scattered around. Some might find it childish but Roman enjoyed them.

Logan frowned. "I assume you were distressed when the injury happened?" He motioned at Roman's arm.

Roman shrugged. "I guess... It's nothing though." He let his eyes close, blocking out the world around him.

"If it effects both your mental and physical health then I doubt it is nothing." Logan looked away, seeing no point in maintaining eye contact with someone who's eyes were closed.

"It was... It was just Remus," Roman answered. "The dude who can control blood."

"You two are brothers, correct? I see why that would be distressing." Logan responded, still staring at Roman's wall, or, rather, Roman's assorted posters. There was little to no wall shown through all the theater, Disney and pride posters.

Roman nodded stiffly and opened his eyes. "Yeah, it sucks. He was always stronger growing up, even when we were just born."

Logan looked down at his teammate again. "I assume there were birth complications then? They are very common among twins. I don't see it as fair to compare yourself to someone who was born with an advant-"

Roman cut Logan off sharply. "He doesn't have an advantage!" He yelled, sitting up. The ice pack tumbled onto the floor, and neither went to retrieve it. "I'm just as good as him! He's no better than I am! If anything he's worse!"

Logan stared at Roman, taken aback by the sudden outburst. "Did I ever imply that he was better than you?" He questioned, just barely keeping the anger out of his voice.

Roman shrank back, hugging his arms over his chest. He couldn't get his mouth to form words, like the speaking switch in his brain had been switched off.

"Someone having an advantage only means the person bellow has to work harder. And if anything that makes you stronger," Logan said calmly. "Is Virgil any less than us because the system favors whites?"

Roman made a clearly disgusted face. "Of course not! And anyone else is an idiot who can burn in hell!" He declared.

Logan smiled a tad, a very rare sight. "And why should that change?" He raised an eyebrow, and after no response came he reached down and grabbed the ice pack. He offered it to Roman.

Roman looked at the offered ice pack, and took it. A small smile took over his face, that anger and grief from before melting away. Speaking of melting, the ice pack was starting to. It made Roman's hands wet the moment he touched it. Logan noticed as well and stood.

"I can go get another, I advice you don't work out for a bit," Logan said, starting to leave. Just before he left the room he turned to look at his flatmate. "Oh, and please Roman, don't push yourself too much."

Roman watched Logan leave, heart swelling up. He looked down at the melting ice pack, already planning some dramatic romance in his head.


	14. wE'Re AlL iN tHis ToGeThEr

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:Getting even gayer, reference past abuse, vaguely shit logic, I'm bad at naming chapters-

A few hours passed and Virgil and Patton started to head to the apartment. They hadn't talked about Ginger's comment, and neither planned to. Instead they talked about basically anything but that. The team had agreed to meet at least three times a week, or just as often as they could.

Patton was skipping along side Virgil, speeding up once they got closer to the apartment. Virgil smiled, amused by his friends antics. The two slipped down the side ally, starting the climb up the fire escape. Once they reached the right window Patton knocked on it.

Roman and Logan were sitting in their main room, waiting for the others. At the knock Roman stood and walked over to the window. He slid the window open and took a few steps back. Patton and Virgil sloppily clambered into the apartment.

"We really have to find a better way." Virgil grumbled, blowing his bangs up. It might've been an attempt to blow them out of his face, but it was unsuccessful.

Logan shrugged. "Other ways would cause possible suspicion. This way hides that you are coming into an apartment you don't live in daily."

"Because people climbing up the fire escape is less suspicious?" Virgil crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. Despite his tone of annoyance he was smirking.

Roman draped an arm over Virgil's shoulders. "For you they'll just assume your some rebellious teen." He teased.

Virgil shrugged the arm off and shoved Roman playfully. Roman tried to grab at him but Virgil darted away, hiding behind Patton. Roman, Virgil and Patton were laughing their asses off, and even Logan was practically grinning. 

"I'll get you." Roman teased, running at Patton. Patton held at an arm, blocking Virgil. Roman pushed Patton a side lightly, not hard enough to hurt really. Still, the movement fished up some unpleasant memories for Patton. They tensed and their body moved without them really knowing. They seeming blacked out, body out of their control.

Patton had no clue how much time had passed but when they re-grounded themself they were facing a very concerned looking Roman and Logan. Behind them was Virgil, just as concerned as the others.

"What... What happened?" Patton asked looking from one friend to another.

"You shoved me away from Virgil and wouldn't let either of us near you," Roman explained. "You kept saying you wouldn't let me hurt him."

Patton frowned. "Did I hurt you?" They asked timidly, looking Roman up and down. The prince themed hero didn't look hurt, luckily.

"No, you just freaked us out." Roman answered, taking a step forward. Patton tensed and their arm twitched out like they were going to return to protecting Virgil.

Virgil rested a hand on Patton's shoulder, carefully turning him around. "Pat, focus on me for a bit, alright?" He said, with a mix of firmness and gentleness.

Patton nodded, glancing back at the others. Virgil made a motion at the others to leave the room. Luckily they picked up on it and walked away. Virgil turned his attention back to Patton.

"Take a few deep breaths please?" He said, slowly getting his phone out of his hoodie pocket. Patton obeyed, breathing in and out. Virgil fished a pair of earbuds out of his pocket, plugging them into the phone. "Here." He handed Patton the phone.

Patton took it and put the earbuds in. Virgil reached over and hit play on a music playlist, and the sound filled Patton's ears.

"That should help you calm down a bit." Virgil explained. Patton smiled at him a bit, nodding.

"I'm going to go talk to the others, are you good to be alone?" Virgil asked. "Because if you aren't I'll do it later."

"I'll be fine," Patton answered. They paused, then continued. "Thanks Virgil... I don't know what that was..."

Virgil smiled a bit, looking way too soft to be the Virgil Patton knew. "You panicked, it happens sometimes," He explained, slipping past Patton. "I'll be back."

Patton watched Virgil left, smiling. The sense of stress was slowly fading, and they let themselves focus on the sound of the music. After like five or seven minutes the other three returned into the room to find Patton flopped on the couch. Patton sat up and grinned at them.

Virgil sat next to Patton. "You good now?" He asked, searching their eyes. Patton nodded and took out the earbuds, pausing the playlist.

"Yeah, thanks Virgey!" They said, handing the phone and earbuds over. Virgil blushed at the nickname, letting his hair flop over his face.

Roman sat on the other side of Patton. "Sorry if I freaked you out pmadre," He said.

Patton shrugged, brushing the skirt down flat. "You didn't mean to," They looked at Roman. "You were just having fun."

Roman nodded, though there did seem to be a shadow of guilt in his eyes still. Logan settled on the chair nearby. 

"If you do need anything, please inform us." Logan said, resting his arms on his legs.

Patton kicked their feet like a child. "Sure thing Logie." They said cheerfully.

"What's up with the nicknames?" Virgil questioned, shoving his phone back into his hoodie pocket.

"Well things ending in that sound are just so much cuter!" Patton said. "Your names should fit how cute you are!"

This turned both Virgil and Logan red. Logan pointedly looked out the window while Virgil opted to just stare very closely at the ground. Roman was absolutely losing his shit at this, and Virgil felt a strong urge to punch him. He controlled himself though, barley.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> things are gonna start getting more actiony soon


	15. DTP

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:Mildly creepy? 4th wall break, mind control, Piper's a bitch, manipulation, stalking, caps, bullying, poverty, violence/blood/knife use, implied death/murder

"Every story needs it's villain"

"Unaware they were being watched, and not just by Logan"

" "I'll keep an eye on him" "

"trying to remember where she could have learned their name"

"did seemed off"

"dtp"

don't trust Piper.

There has been a trail. Laid out with small tiny details, small things. Piper. Our good friends Janus and Remus are the villains, correct? That's what they've been shown as. But I think it's time to turn back the clock, and figure out who our true villains may be.

Years ago, there was a shift in Janus and Remus. So small that it was barely noticeable. They went from just being angry about the world, to being violent, aggressive, and controlling. To any outsiders it would just appear that they had, "had enough" as some put it. But really, Piper was the one behind it.

Piper, as you might've have guessed, has a power much like our heroes. Almost identical to a particular one's in fact. Piper can control minds, to a larger extent than Logan. And unlike our heroes, she is power and revenge hungry. She saw Remus, Janus and Virgil, saw their anger and hurt the world inflicted on them and took it. She took control of Janus, then Remus.

Under Piper's control, Remus and Janus started Utrimque Tenebris. Under her control they gathered members, including Virgil. Piper's plan was to gather people, and put them all under her control. Only there was a flaw, Piper's power wasn't strong enough, she could barely hold control of three people. And a slight slip up would ruin everything.

So, Piper only controlled Janus and Remus, using them of sock puppets for her evil deeds. As Remus and Janus built Utrimque Tenebris, Piper worked to improve her powers. And just as she was ready to control Virgil, he left.

And that greatly angered Piper. Her perfect plan, having three sock poppets to lead an army, was ruined. She could've just found someone else, but no. She refused to give up. So she followed Virgil, getting a job at the same store, befriending him, trying to gain his trust.

For Piper's powers to work she needed to have the trust of the other person. It had taken a while to gain Remus and Janus, but she was sure Virgil would be earlier. Only he was far from it, and every time she started to get close something would happen that would mess it up.

But Piper, was manipulative as she was insistent, and she was getting close. There was just one thing in the way, Ginger.

Ginger is also not what she seems, though in a different way than Piper. Ginger also has an ability, the ability to view the future and past. She rarely ever uses it, though anytime she met someone new she would check if they were worth her trust. So when Virgil introduced Ginger and Piper, Ginger knew about her plans.

The two avoided each other, both trying to keep Virgil away from the other. Luckily ginger managed to protect Virgil, though the clock was as always, ticking.

Now that you can see the full picture, lets go back to the present.

Piper was sitting in the ally by the Lux apartment. Watching the group through the window closely. The three other Lux members had started to become a problem. Virgil had grown to trust them, more than he seemed to trust Piper. She would need to get rid of them. Whatever, it would be dealt with.

"Piper," A voice said, startling the red-head into turning around. Ginger was walking down the ally towards her. "Stop this madness, please."

There was pity in her voice, strong pity. Pity that only increased Piper's anger.

"No," Piper replied sharply, glaring down at Ginger. "You are an old weak fool, you cannot stop me."

Ginger gently rested a hand on Pipers. "Please... Come home. We can go back to the way things used to be."

Piper tensed, shoving the old women away harshly. "NEVER! Don't you understand? I hated the way things used to be!" She yelled.

Ginger stumbled backwards at the shove, staring at her daughter in shock.

"I was miserable! No one at school liked me, they mocked me, treated me like the dirt beneath their feet!" Piper continued, voice straining with pain. "We had nothing, nothing expect their scorn and hatred."

Ginger listened to this rant calmly, the pity still in her eyes. Piper stared at her mother in rage, waiting for a response, waiting for anything but this silence.

"Not anymore," Piper said after a silence, "I saw a way out, and I took it. You're a fool for not joining me." She spun, turning her attention back to the window.

Ginger sighed. "Is it worth it? Being better off because you used other people..?" She slowly walked over to Piper, standing beside her.

"Yes."

The reply was short, plain and sharp. But Ginger persisted. "Piper please, come home. We can do better together, be a family again."

"No."

Again, a short reply. Ginger looked at Piper. The girls eyes were hardened with rage, a sort of distant look in her eyes as she stared at the window. Ginger gently entangled their finger. "Let's go home."

"NO!" Piper yelled, hand lashing out as she shoved Ginger away. As ginger stumbled back a sharp pain seized her chest. A shimmering in Piper's hand confirmed the worst. There was a knife in Piper's fist, now red with blood.

Ginger stumbled into the wall, gasping for breath. Piper stared, eyes losing any sign of emotion. The knife fell out of her hands, landing on the concrete ground with a loud bang. Her hand shook, and she seemed stuck in one position. One shaking hand out, and one out to one side, her legs spread in a fighting position. Slowly Piper's hands fell to her side.

"I'm never going back," Piper said, voice cold and broken. She turned, staring towards the street, half stumbling half walking. "No one can make me."

Slowly Ginger sank to the floor, desperately clinging to her last bits of life. And Piper walked away, wiping a single cold tear off her face before she vanished from sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> iwatchedtoomuchunusanusbeforewritingthis


	16. Grief Lights a Spark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:Death/blood/murder, a shit ton angst, police being assholes, poverty, mention of Trumpity Wumpity(if you're pro trump please go burn in hell <3), they do the smoochys and cuddles, consent is described as "silent"

Virgil and Patton had stayed over at Roman and Logan's place that night. So they missed the chaos when their apartment building got word of Ginger's death. The next morning when the two had reached their building a neighbour was waiting outside. Her name is Ira. As soon as Patton and Virgil saw her, they knew something had happened.

Ira rushed over. "Did you hear about what happened?" She questioned before Patton or Virgil could even speak.

"Er... No?" Patton answered, looking at Virgil then back at Ira.

"Ginger... she... She was found dead in an ally way," Ira's voice cracked as tears filled her eyes. "She was attacked by someone. The police won't find out who did it."

Patton froze, staring at Ira as though she had turned bright yellow. Virgil's hands curled into fists. "What? Why won't they?!" He demanded, shaking with anger.

Ira sighed heavily. "They'll only do it if we can provide money to 'fund the investigation.'" She explained, putting air quotes over the last three words.

"That has to be illegal!" Patton yelled.

"Even if it is it'd take too much to press charges," Ira said and looked back at the apartment. "A few of the others are going to investigate without the police."

Patton stared down at the ground, tears starting to fall form their eyes. Virgil just stared off into space, as though he wasn't really there. The three stood in silence before Ira broke it.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go." Ira turned to leave but then remembered something, turning back to them.

"Oh, Virgil," Ira said, gaining the emos attention. "Ginger had a message for you. It's been passed away a lot though. She said to not trust Peggy, said she was a danger."

Virgil frowned, eyes narrowing a bit. Ira rushed away with a quiet goodbye and left the two friends alone. Patton looked up at Virgil, shaking with grief and fear.

"Wh-Who's Peggy?" They asked, sounding a lot like a lost child.

Virgil shrugged, eyes still numb. "I don't know," He answered flatly. "We shouldn't just stand around out here."

Patton nodded in agreement, sniffing as a few more tears fell. The two walked into the building, where a solid layer of sadness sat. It seemed even darker than normal, with small groups of people talking in hushed groups in the hallways. A few glanced up at the two as they passed but nothing more than a small nod was exchanged. Finally they reached their floor.

Virgil started towards his door, fumbling his keys from his pockets. He was moving in a very stiff manor, most of his energy being used to process this news. He planned to just lay on his bed for hours, but Patton changed that.

"Virgil I-" They started, barely getting the words out. Virgil turned to face their friend. "I... Don't want to be alone."

Virgil's eyes softened a bit. "Want to stay in my room for a bit then?"

Patton looked up with a small smile and nodded. Virgil unlocked his door and walked into the busted up room. Patton followed, looking around.

"That's new." They pointed at a cardboard box. Virgil followed their finger and nodded.

"I started stealing confederate flags, Trump stuff, blue lives matter flags, and anything like that. I'll probably burn it sometime." Virgil explained, stealing on his desk.

Patton smiled and nodded. "I'll be glad to join you when it happens." They said, settling on Virgil's bed.

A semi-comfortable silence followed that, both still processing Ginger's death. After a few minutes Patton spoke up.

"How close were you and Ginger.?" Patton asked, watching Virgil closely. The numbness in their friends eyes scared them a bit, and they wanted it gone.

Virgil looked down at his hands, fumbling them about. "We were pretty close... She was the first person to really care in a while." 

Patton bit their lip lightly. "What do you mean?" They prodded farther, worry about Virgil only growing.

Virgil glanced up at Patton before quickly returning his attention to his hands. "I er, moved here from a different town. She was the first person to give a sit I existed here."

Patton nodded, scooting to the edge of the bed. "Guess she dose that for a lot of people." They offered Virgil a smile.

Virgil weakly returned a small one, pulling his knees to his chest. "It's hard to believe she's gone... It feels like this isn't really happening, it's just some nightmare... Like I'll wake up and she'll be alive and everything will be fine."

Patton made a sound of agreement, watching the numbness in Virgil's eyes fad to grief. Suddenly Patton wanted to numbness back, seeing Virgil sad just made their sadness worse.

"I know it won't happen though." Virgil's voice cracked as he started down at the ground fighting back tears. Patton watched helplessly, mind desperately searching for some way to help.

Finally they got an idea. Slowly, as not to startle Virgil Patton stood and walked over. They rested a hand on Virgil's. The emo flinched a bit but didn't pull away.

"I know it'll be hard... But we have each other, and the other Lux members," Patton said gently, tracing invisible circles on Virgil's hand. "We'll get through this. I promise."

Virgil looked at Patton, a tear falling. Quickly his hand shot up and wiped it away. "Right..." He mumbled.

Patton smiled, hand curling around Virgil's. Carefully they pulled Virgil off the desk, leading him over to the bed. "Cuddle time." They declared, grinning.

"Pat I have to go to work and so do you, we-" Virgil started but Patton cut him off.

"All that can wait, it's cuddle time." Patton flopped onto the mattress, dragging Virgil down with them.

Virgil sighed and gave up, letting Patton wrap their arms around him. He relaxed a bit and leaned into Patton, their heart rate syncing up. Patton grinned at Virgil, blushing like crazy. Virgil offered a small smile back, grateful he had thought to reapply his makeup that morning otherwise he too would be red.

The two sat there together, in a limb tangle of just tired, sad, gayness. Until Virgil looked at Patton again, to find the enby had been watching him. The two stared at each other, heart rates speeding up. Slowly their face drifted closer until their lips connected. It was a sloppy kiss, clearly both were very inexperienced. But hey, they did their best.

Virgil broke away and immediately panicked "Shit!" He mumbled, tensing up. Patton moved their arms, worried.

"Sorry I should've asked, and this is not a good time... We're not thinking straight and there's no way you'd really like me... And we're both tired and-"

Patton stop their friend from going on anymore. "Virgey calm down," They said gently. "In that moment it was a silent consent thing. We both sent signals that we wanted."

Their voice went a bit more firm after that. "And I did absolutely want that, I have for a long time... I love you Virgil, no matter what. It's alright if you don't feel the same..." Their voice trailed off, slowly sitting up.

Virgil followed the cue, sitting up as well. He stared at the ground, mind spinning. "Yeah... I... I wanted that too." he muttered, picking at the palm of his hand.

Virgil's mind was in anxious overload mode. This could all just be a joke, Patton was just pranking him. They had recorded this and was going to show it to the others and they'd all laugh and think he was some kind of weirdo and-

A hand on his cheek made that train-wreck of a thought stop, and Virgil looked up to find Patton smiling at him in that very Patton way.

"And of course I wasn't thinking straight, we're both gay!" Patton joked, earning a small chuckled form Virgil. They wrapped their arms around the emo and dragged them back down.

Virgil moved in closer, all his anxiety melting away. Mostly because Patton was like a human heater and it was hecking cold outside.

"I guess this means we're dating now?" Virgil asked, looking at Patton who shrugged.

"Guess so!" They replied, brushing Virgil's bangs out of his face. This reduced Virgil to a blushing, stuttering mess.

As the two laid on the shitty mattress in the shitty apartment, they momentary forgot the threats of the outside world looming closer and closer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One pair down only like 5 to go-


	17. Searching for something already there

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:Some good old angst, getting gayer, crappy parents, child running away from home,
> 
> Im having problems with uploading these chapters, sorry about that!

Later that day Logan returned to the apartment, to find Roman lying face down on the couch. Logan raised an eyebrow, staring at his flatmate in confusion.

"Roman?" He walked over to the couch, standing over Roman. "Are you... Alright?"

Roman raised his head, looking up at Logan. "No, I am absolutely not!" He said, laying a hand over his face dramatically.

Logan huffed and rolled his eyes. "You seem to be fine enough to be over-dramatic."

Roman put a hand on his chest as though he'd been shot. "Oh how dare thee? I trusted you!"

"I merely speak the truth. However," Logan moved Roman's legs so he could sit on the couch. "If something is wrong I am here if you need to talk."

Roman seem to soften a bit, turning around so he was staring up at the ceiling. He sighed, crossing his arms around his chest. "It's just... A bad day for me..."

"What caused this bad day?" Logan questioned, watching his flatmates face closely.

"It wasn't anything that happened today," Roman shrugged. "It happened a while ago."

"Ah I see, one of those events that bothers us for years. How long has it been exactly?" Logan prompted Roman on.

"About ten years ago, I honestly haven't been bothered by it until recently." Roman responded, twiddling his fingers and staring at them. He didn't want to look at Logan.

Logan nodded slowly, looking back on what could've caused Roman to be bothered by whatever this event was. After a minute or two of him thinking he found something.

"Is it to do with your brother, Remus?" Logan asked, raising an eyebrow. Roman tensed in response, looking at Logan in surprise.

"Yeah... How did you know?"Roman questioned, propping himself up on his elbows.

Logan shrugged. "It was the only thing I could think of that would cause you to remember this event. Logically speaking it makes sense."

Roman smiled a bit. "Goddammit Logan, you always are overly logical." He mumbled, shaking his head.

"Well it is the most easy way to look at life," Logan explained. "Now, what is this event that is bothering you?"

"That's the thing... I don't even know what happened," Roman flopped backwards, laying down again. "Remus just, left. And my parents wouldn't explain what happened."

Logan frowned. "That is quite odd indeed. Would he have reason to run away?"

"I don't know!" Roman yelled, throwing his arms up in the air before letting them flop over his face.

Logan seemed very unbothered by the yelling. "Alright, do you want to find out?" He proceeded just as calmly as he had before.

"I don't know." Roman repeated, voice returning to normal. 

Logan nodded again. "Do you know what you want to do to distract yourself? I doubt wallowing in these emotions will be any help at all."

Roman smiled at his just a bit. "Up to watch a few Disney films?" He asked, voice going much higher than normal.

Logan let out a small chuckled. "If it will be a help to you, yes."

The two proceeded to watch a few Disney films, at first starting on opposite ends of the couch. However, as time went by Roman slowly started scooching closer. Until midway through Lilo and Stitch he broke the silence between the two.

"Hey Lo..gan?" He paused before finishing Logan's name as though we was going to say something else. Logan looked over at Roman who was staring at him with puppy dog eyes.

"Hm?"

"Can we cuddle?" Roman asked, taping his pointer fingers together in that classic way.

Logan frowned a bit. "Well that is a way to produce chemicals to improve ones mood, however isn't that something that couples do? It also would involve a decent amount of moving about to reach a cof-"

Roman cut Logan off before the nerd could go on one of his rants. "Was that a yes or no?"

There was a pause before Logan's answer.

"Yes..."

"Are you absolutely certain?" Roman asked again, not wanting to force Logan into anything.

"Yes Roman, I am." Logan nodded.

And with that Roman kola clung onto Logan, grinning as he buried his head into the nerds neck. A few minutes passed before Roman spoke again.

"And if the couples part bothers you too much. There's a way to fix that." Roman said, glad Logan woudn't be able to see his blush.

Logan raised an eyebrow. "Really? I can't quite think of one."

"I mean, I'm free this Saturday if you are." Roman said, moving so he could smile at Logan.

Logan stared at him, his cheeks turning red. "Are you... Are you asking me out?"

Roman shrugged. "Maybe? Are you going to say yes?"

Logan smiled a bit, looking at the screen. "Sure. It sounds... Satisfactory."

"Just admit you'll have fun." Roman said with a laugh, face returning to Logan's neck.

Logan chuckled, shaking his head. The two stayed like that with the occasional shift. However, because of this neither saw Roman's phone buzz, or the text that had made it.


	18. Broken Strings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:Good boi Remus, crappy parents

The next morning Roman woke up, surprised to find himself in his own room. For a minute his heart sank, think he had just dreamed the entire thing. Luckily he spotted a note in his door, stumbling across his room to read it.

Roman,

I moved you to your room, I hope that was alright. I doubt sleeping on the couch all night would be comfortable or healthy. I will most likely be gone by the time you wake up, so know I made pancakes and they're waiting for you. They are on the counter.

I̶l̶o̶v̶e̶y̶o̶u̶

-Logan

Roman smiled, admiring Logan's neat handwriting. He particularity admired that crossed out line. It made his hearts do little back flips. God he was a hopeless romantic. Roman started down the stairs, remembered his phone, darted back up the stairs, grabbed said phone and started back down.

That's when he saw the text.

Unknown Number:Roman please, I need help

Roman:Who is this?

Unknown Number:You'd stop responding if you knew

Roman:Im not doing anything if you dont tell me

Unknown number:It's Remus

Roman froze, staring at that message. His heart went from being all warm and fuzzy backfliping to panic and anger backfliping.

Roman:Why would i want to help you

Unknown Number:somethings going on and i dont know who else to go to

Roman:How do I know this isnt trick?

Unknown Number:You dont

Unknown Number:I need you to trust me

Unknown Number:Please

Roman:What do you want me to do

Unknown Number:I want to meet up

Roman:No fucking way

Unknown Number:You can bring your friends

Unknown Number:Roman please, I dont know whats going on

Roman:Why dont you just go to mom or dad

Roman:theyd be glad to help

Unknown Number:They hate me

Unknown Number:They always had

Roman sighed, walking into the kitchen. There was a plate of pancakes on the counter, just like Logan had said. He tapped his phone on the edge of the counter. He hate to admit it. but he did want to believe Remus was telling the truth, that he had changed. Roman wanted his brother back, badly.

He sighed, and with much anxiety typed out,

Roman:Fine. Be at the roof of -insert address- at 1:00 tonight. Come alone. I will be bringing the rest of Lux.

Lets fast forward for the rest of this day was very normal. Neither Patton or Virgil went to work again, Roman went to work, Logan went to his classes and what work he had that day. Very normal, for the most part.

At 12:00 Lux met at Logan and Roman's apartment. There was much surprise and a decent amount of laughing that the four had started dating one of the others on the same day. roman explained what was going to happen. Logan was pretty against it, Virgil was completely against it, and Patton was alright with it. With a bit of convincing Logan agreed. Virgil still hated the idea, but didn't want to just mess this up.

And at 12:40 the group was off.

Roman had purposely chosen a building in a very much abandoned. The only people they'd have to worry about were the people who lived in those buildings illegally. And those people would never go to the cops or any authority so it felt safe.

Finally, at around 1:01 Lux arrived on the rooftop. A figure stood there, arms wrapped tightly around themselves.

"Remus." Princey said, making sure to keep his distance. Remus looked up, relief flashing across his face. He wasn't wearing a mask.

"You came..." He took s step forward, and all four Lux slid into a battle stance.

"Right," Remus said, taking a step backwards. "Supposed to be enemies." His voice went to a mumbled.

"Explain, now. what is going on." Roman was careful to keep his voice shielded. Virgil had lectured him on the dangers of showing that he had any attachment to Remus at all before hand. Though Roman had a feeling that Virgil was not only lecturing roman, but himself as well.

"This is going to sound insane and like I'm lying but..." Remus voice trailed off. He took a deep breath, looking Roman directly in the eyes. "I think someone's mind controlling me, or something. There's huge gaps in my memory, times when I feel like my body's just moving on it's own."

"What are you talking about? That kind of thing isn-" Virgil started, but Logan cut him off.

"He's telling the truth," Logan said, the others turning just in time to see a glowing blue fad from his eyes. "I don't know if he's right but he isn't lying,"

Silence followed that, each member of Lux processing this, while Remus waited for someone to say something.

"So... How do we find out if he's right?" Paton asked, fiddling with their mask.

Logan frowned, thinking. "I have a few questions that might help. Remus," Remus looked at him, a bit startled.

"How did you escape this 'control'" He made a circle motion with his hand at the word control.

"I don't know... I managed to get out yesterday. I've had breaks where I feel mostly in control but yesterday was the first time I felt completely free." Remus answered, shrugging.

Logan looked over at roman, and idea shinning in his eyes. "From what I know, yesterday would've been decently emotional?"

Remus narrowed his eyes. "Guess so..."

"None of this is going to determine if he's lying or not." Virgil snapped, motioning at Remus. He was visibly shaking, not from the cold.

Logan looked at Virgil. "I have an idea, but it's risky. I am not in much control of it."

"Stop being so vague and just explain it." Roman said, not taking his eyes away from Remus.

"Among my abilities there is mind control. It's weak, and I have never used it before. I see it as very unethical. However, I am willing to make an exception here." Logan explained.

Remus's eyes lit up. "That sounds like it'll work."

Logan nodded, taking a step forward. His eyes started to glow as his face twisted in concentration. Logan always seemed to not be in full control of his powers, none of the others had thought much.

Remus tensed his eyes turning the same blue. He immediately didn't seem like a person anymore, more like a rag-doll or puppet. After a few seconds the blue in both men's eyes faded away, and Remus returned to normal.

"Was it similar at all?" Logan questioned, returning to the other's side.

Remus frowned, thinking. "Yeah, I'd say it was." He smirked, pleased with this information.

"So great, he's mind controlled. What the fuck do we do now?" Virgil said, crossing his arms.

"Langue." Patton said, frowning at Virgil from under their mask. Virgil rolled his eyes.

"I suggest we return to this in the morning, acting on impulsion in the middle of the night is not wise." Logan said calmly.

Roman gave Remus the apartment address, and the five went their separate ways. Patton and Virgil back to their apartment, Roman and Logan back to theirs. Remus stayed on the roof for a bit, thinking, before leaving for his own apartment.

And Piper, across the city, found one of her many puppet strings broken.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:anGsT, police being sucky and ppl being mad about it, Roman is clueless about police being shitty, Roman and Virgil argue, Virgil and Remus kinda do,

The sun started to creep into the sky, casting light into Roman's room. Logan and Roman were curled up on the bed. They weren't exactly cuddling but they were squished together. Slowly Logan awoke, sitting up. He tried to move slowly as not to wake Roman. It was not successful.

Roman's eyes opened, smiling sleepy at Logan. "Morning Lo." He hummed, propping himself up on his elbows.

Logan smiled down at him a bit. "Greetings Roman. You should try to get more sleep, it's still early."

"The others should be coming over soon," Roman said with a shrug. "Plus I doubt I'll be able to get much more sleep."

Logan nodded, getting to his feet. "Alright, do whatever you wish."

Roman sat up, crossing his legs. Logan kissed his forehead before rushing out of the room. Roman stared at the door, cheeks turning red. A big dopey grin spread across his face. God he was a dork.

Minutes later Roman started down the steps, having changed out of his pajamas. He entered the kitchen, surprised to find Remus already there.

"Hey bro." Remus said, leaning his head back so he could see Roman. He was sitting on a chair facing away from the door.

Roman rolled his eyes. "You're early." He responded, leaning in the doorway.

"Eh, early birds get the fingers." Remus said with a grin, shrugging.

"Fingers?" Logan questioned, filling his cup with coffee. "Isn't it worm?"

"Originally yes, but I improved it," Remus responded, looking over at Logan. "Plus, fingers really do look like worms." He wiggled his pointer finger.

Roman scoffed, walking over to the table. "Someone's back to their usual self." He grumbled, sitting down in a chair across from Remus.

Remus smirked at him. "Of course~." He leaned onto the table. "No existential dread hovering over my head. You should've expected this."

Logan leaned against the counter, watching as the two brothers bickered. He was watching Remus a bit more closely than Roman. There was something off about him, but not in the kind of way that was worrying.

The sound of the window opening alerted the three that Patton and Virgil has showed up. The two walked into the kitchen. While Patton was grinning Virgil was looking off to the side, practically hiding behind his enbyfriend(a non binary term for girl/boyfriend).

"Salutations you two," Logan nodded at them. "Was there something that held you up?"

Patton rubbed the back of their head. "Things are just chaotic in our apartment at the moment."

Remus leaned his head back again. "How chaotic?" He asked with a bit too much interest.

"Someone very important go murdered and the police aren't doing shit chaotic." Virgil grumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Why wouldn't the police do anything?" Roman asked, eyes narrowing.

Virgil rolled his eyes. "That's juts the way they are."

Roman frowned. "I've never seen that happening."

"Yeah well you live in a clearly different world then we do. The police like people like you, they don't people like us." Virgil snapped, glaring at the wall.

Roman flinched back a bit. "I was just asking about it!" He snapped back, crossing his arm son the table.

"Guys, calm down." Patton cut in, resting a hand on Virgil's shoulder.

Logan nodded. "We have things to attend to. While the situation at your apartment is tragic it must no distract from the threat. There is someone who can control minds out there. We have to focus on this threat."

"Whatever." Roman grumbled, shrugging.

As that argument came to a temporary stop tension started to leave air. They started to discuss what to do, but it felt like they were going in circles. Find whoever can control minds. How? Some random idea that wouldn't work. Hit repeat. They weren't getting anywhere, and it just felt so useless. After way too much of this loop Virgil got way too overwhelmed.

"Pat, I'm going to get some air." Virgil mumbled, slipping out of the room. He slid out of the window, standing on the fire escape. The streets bellow were getting busy, but no one bothered to look down the alley way.

Virgil sighed, taking a few deep breathes to clear the cloud of anxiety that covered his head. He hated this, a lot. Between Ginger's death, Remus being back, and this mind controller, it was just all a lot. Not to mention his relationship with Patton had been added in as well, and though it was good there was too much change too quickly. Just a few weeks ago their biggest worry was Utrimque Tenebris. And even then it had felt very far away. Now there was so much to worry about and Virgil did not like it.

The emo was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't hear Remus join him on the fire escape. So he was quite startled by Remus's sudden greeting.

"Heya emo boy!" Remus said with a grin, draping an arm over Virgil's shoulder.

Virgil jumped away, shrinking back into himself. "What do you want Remus?"

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Just checking on a friend. Don't want anything to happen to you~"

"We're not friends." Virgil said sharply, looking over the edge of the fire escape.

A frown crossed Remus's face. "Huh, seem to remember we were?" He grinned at Virgil, trying once more to get the emo to smile. Or at least show some sign of joy.

"Well you remembered wrong. We stopped being friends years ago." Virgil mumbled, shoving his hands into his pocket.

Remus frowned at Virgil, this time for real. "V... You know I wasn't in control back then."

Virgil looked ta him. "Dosen't change what happened," He said flatly. "Just because you weren't in complete control doesn't change shit."

Remus seemed taken aback. He looked out, staring at the building across the alley. Stiff heavy silence took over. Neither knew what to say. Finally after a few minutes Remus manged to break it.

"I don't know what even happened... But I have a feeling that it wasn't good." Remus mumbled.

Virgil glanced at him. "Do you remember nothing?"

Remus shrugged. "Bits and pieces. It feels like my body just wasn't mine, like I didn't really exist anymore."

Virgil looked at him, biting his lip. He tried to think of something to say, but his anxiety stopped him from speaking.

Remus looked over and smiled a tad. "Still biting your lip... Guess me and Jan couldn't break it."

Virgil chuckled coldly, shoulders sinking. "Guess not."

"I know this won't help, but I am sorry..." Remus said, offering a hand.

Virgil looked at the hand, and after a long pause he accepted it. "We can try to start over... No promi-"

Before Virgil could finish Remus pulled him into a huge. One of those tight hugs somehow only Remus could do. Virgil let himself relax, a smile filling his face.

Maybe one more change wouldn't be too bad.


	20. Logan and Virgil talk about family(kinda)(notreally)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:Shitty families, death mentioned, there's angst, and gay shit, alcohol/drug abuse,

By the time 8:30, Logan was under the impression he was alone in the apartment. Remus had left first, then Patton(and Logan believed Virgil did too) and Roman left last. He said he had an important meeting or something. So Logan saw no problem picking up this phone call from his mother. It's not that she was awful, just had high expectations. And Logan wanted to keep that side of his life away from his friends(and boyfriend)

However, Virgil was in the other room. He had nothing better to do and decided to just stick around. Going back to his apartment did not sound pleasant, it'd just be another reminder about Ginger. So, he could hear Logan's side of this call.

"Greetings,"

Pause.

"No I haven't finished it quite yet.... I will. I promise."

Pause, this one longer.

"Alright... Yes.... Please calm dow-"

A really long pause this time.

"I will. Bye... Love you too."

A sigh followed that, and the sound of approaching footsteps. Logan entered the room, surprised to find Virgil there. "I was under the impression you left?"

Virgil shook his head. "Still here," He paused, trying to figure out how to word this next part. "who were you on the phone with?"

Logan sat down, raking his brain for a lie. "My... Coworker."

"Seemed like an ass." Virgil moved to sit on the back of the couch, putting his own phone into his hoodie pocket.

"She just has high expectations. It's quite manageable." Logan shrugged.

"Right..." Virgil trailed off. Silence followed that for a few seconds, then Virgil filled it again. "Coworkers suck, I had a really awful one years ago."

"Hm?" Logan said, prompting Virgil to continue.

"She was an addict and expected me and... another coworker to support her. She never payed much attention to us unless it was for money or to yell." Virgil explained, following Logan's coworker lie.

"That sounds highly unprofessional. Was your boss aware of this?" Logan frowned, thinking that this was really a coworker of Virgil's.

"Er, no... She was the boss." Virgil looked at Logan.

"Oh, what was this other coworker like?"

Virgil smiled, his mind drifting to Nayla. "She was great... She's the one who taught me how to.. do the job. She was that kind of person who could get along with everyone."

"So like Patton?" Logan asked, the tension from that call slowly leaving.

Virgil chuckled a bit and nodded. "Yeah, a lot like Patton."

Logan smiled a bit. "I'd appreciate meeting this coworker, she sounds very pleasant."

Virgil frowned, shrinking back into himself. "You can't... she died." His voice dropped down to a mumble.

"Oh, how if I may ask?" Logan watched his friend closely. Patton had been trying to teach him to recognize signs of distress, and this sure seemed like distress.

"Bus crash. She was the only one." Virgil kept his voice flat, forcing away his emotions. Forcing away the fear, the doubt, the fact that maybe just maybe he could've saved Nayla. Could've stopped her from going. But he didn't.

Then the tears started. Virgil didn't even notice at first, until Logan was by his side. Regret seized him as soon as he realized. He was supposed to be comforting Logan but he was crying like a fucking idiot and-

Logan hugged Virgil, and not one of his normal stiff hugs. It was warm, and strong and comforting. Virgil leaned into this hug, his throat closing up as grief consumed him. Ginger, Nayla, Remus.... Janus. All of them got hurt when Virgil was in their lives. He seemed to just bring disaster where ever he went and just destroy people's lives. He should just go live out alone, stop hoping for all this.

"Virgil... Breath. Please?" Logan said quietly. Virgil tried to, breaths short and stiff. Logan gently rubbed his back. Slowly Virgil's throat loosened and he was able to breath. His tears slowed and he moved backwards. Logan followed the cue and released the hug.

"Thanks, sorry for just," Virgil made a circle motion with his hand. "flipping out."

"It's quite alright Virgil. I'm honestly not too surprised." Logan shrugged, returning to his own chair.

Virgil raised an eyebrow. "Am I supposed to be offended or..?"

Logan quickly shook his head. "No not at all. It is merely a high stress time and talking about something like a death of a coworker adds to that stress."

Virgil frowned, doubt sinking in. "Logan, was that really your coworker on the phone?"

Logan looked at Virgil, then looked away. "No. It was my mother."

"Thought so," Virgil moved to sit closer to Logan. "You're allowed to talk about things without using some code you know."

"Of course I know that. I just prefer not to," Logan shrugged. "I'd like to hear more about these coworkers of yours."

Virgil stopped, before breaking down laughing. He ended up with his head on Logan's arm. Virgil didn't really notice the closeness but Logan sure did. "Logan, I was using the same code you used. That was my mom and my sister."

"Oh," Logan paused, processing this. "Oh..." The realization sinking in fully. "Apologies you had to deal with such an atrocious childhood."

Virgil shook his head. "Just say shitty childhood."

Logan nodded slowly, looking out the window. "You might want to head home soon, it's getting late."

Virgil followed his gaze, joy fading from his face. He took this as a cue Logan wanted him gone and stood up. "Right, of course." Logan stood as well.

"And Virgil, thank you. You being here... helped somehow." Logan managed to say, avoiding eye contact.

A small smile crossed Virgil's face. "No one likes to be alone when they're off," He stepped closer and put his hands on Logan's shoulders. "Just, don't do anything stupid. Okay?"

Logan nodded. "Of course. You too."

They stood there for a few seconds before Virgil stepped back, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Right, bye I'll see you later." Quickly the emo left, not looking behind him. Both felt way lighter than before, but now had a new worry. What was this weird feeling and why did it feel so close to the feelings of their partners?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't updated in a while my motivation went 📉📉📉. I'll try to keep writing in somewhat of a scheduled way but no promises.


	21. Saving Snake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:Even more angst, Remus and Roman argue, scar mentioned, Janus is good enby, struggling with mental health, Piper is an insane bastard.

Roman had to admit, having Remus back was an absolute nightmare. He seemed to have endless energy and very little self control. Two things that mixed to cause a chaos goblin who would stop at nothing to cause distress. However, there was a plus then this. That being that you could always tell when he was down. So when Roman met Remus on a rooftop that night, he knew right away something was wrong.

Remus looked over at him, a feigned a smile. "Hey Roman." He sounded really tired. His shoulders were slumped and his eyes were glazed over.

Roman frowned, adjusting his mask a bit. "Are you good?" He glanced around, making sure they weren't being watched. Two dudes in hero get-ups were going to look odd and get the cops called.

"I'm fine," Remus forced his shoulders up. "Just tired."

Roman's concern grew. "Are you sure?" He took a step closer. It was hard to read Remus with his mask on. Thankfully he'd swapped the full mask for a normal half mask. But still it hid his mouth.

"I uh," Remus looked out at the city. "I'm just worried about Janus. If I got mind controlled they probably did too."

Roman paused for a second, trying to remember who Janus was. After managing to guess who he sighed. "Remus, we don't know if we can trust them. How do we know they weren't the ones doing it?"

Remus quickly shook his head. "They could have. They can only shapeshift, and they'd never do something like that."

"Remus, what was your relationship with this, uh, person." Roman almost said dude but caught himself. Judging by the pronouns Remus was using that was not the right term.

Remus look at Roman. "We were dating, kinda."

"Kinda? What dose that mean?" Roman asked, confusion being thrown into the emotional mess that was being made.

"It's complicated. Getting mind controlled kinda fucks up any relationship." Remus grumbled, a jab in his words. Roman couldn't tell who it was directed to or even where it was.

"Why are you being so hostile to me?! I didn't do anything." Roman said sharply, crossing his arms.

"I'm not being hostile!" Remus snapped, glaring at Roman.

"Yes you are!" Roman snapped back. "You're acting like it's my fault that you got controlled and I don't get why!"

"Because I need someone to blame!" Remus yelled without thinking. The words just kind of came out of his mouth. Roman took a step back, hands falling to his sides. Remus wrapped his arms around himself looking away. "Because I don't know who else to blame and I just..." Tears threatened his eyes, almost starting to fall.

Roman quickly pulled Remus into a hug. It was tight and strong, and Remus just kind of melted into it. "We'll find them, alright? It can't be that hard."

Yeah, well, that wasn't true. The two brothers spent the rest of the night searching for Janus. They did find them but they noticed and darted. And it turns out, finding a shapeshifter who doesn't want to be found was very hard. Remus refusing to use his power on Janus didn't help. But finally they managed to corner them.

They'd trapped Janus in an ally, and even though they probably could've escaped, they didn't. "Why are you following me?" Janus demanded, looking from Roman to Remus. It was the first time Roman was seeing them without their mask. They had some kind of scar on one side of their face, it was honestly vaguely disturbing.

Remus pulled down his mask. "Janus, please just listen. You're being controlled, I know you are. This isn't like you at all.

Janus's eyes glazed over in a way that made Roman's skin crawl. "Who are you?" Janus asked, voice sounding very different than it had before. Closer to how it sounded during the first broadcast all that time ago. Remus sank back, confused.

"Remus, your boyfriend. Janus please I know you have to remember," Remus took a desperate step forward. Janus stared at him blankly, clearly not remembering. "Janus, I know you're in there somewhere!"

Roman gently grabbed his brothers arm. "Remus, if they don't remember we should just leave..." His voice trailed off.

Remus pulled away. "No! I'm not just going to give up on him," He snapped. "Not after everything. They never gave up on me so I'm not going to give up on them!"

Memories slowly clawed their way into Janus's head. Literally running into Remus and feeling a sort of spark. Looking up to see what caused this spark to be met with a crying face. Talking to this crying person, and slowly bonding. Remus losing himself and not being able to do much more then just sit, and Janus staying right by his side. Remus being flooded with thoughts that made even him afraid of himself, but Janus not leaving. Piper felt her control on the enby slipping all the way across the city, and started to fight it. However she wasn't strong enough, and was too far away. Janus fought for control, gaining the upper hand quickly.

Janus looked at Remus, barely noticing Roman there. "What's going on?" They asked, looking around. Piper was still trying to regain control, starting to try and get there in time. At this point it became a ticking clock for her. The faster Janus gained control the less time she'd have to get there and take control. And with every second the clock sped up.

Remus ran over and hugged Janus, grinning. "I'll explain later, it's complicated." Janus smiled a bit, hugging their boyfriend back.

"What's with the get up?" Janus questioned, looking Remus up and down. They then noticed Roman. "And carbon copy in a lighter get up?"

Remus laughed. "Let's just go, we can explain on the way." He grabbed Janus's hand, and started to lead the way. They decided it was best to go to Roman and Logan's apartment and get the others there. After all, they had a new member to introduce.

About in the middle of the city Piper let out an aggravated groan, throwing her knife at the wall of a building. Janus had slipped out of her control. Fully. She had no one to work with now. She pulled the knife out of the wall, looking at her reflection. Her hair was a mess, and there was a crazed look in her eyes.

"Fine then," She hissed, a small grin taking over her face. "I'll just have to handle this alone."


End file.
